The appointments of Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt is exactly what is needed to get South African cricket back to where it needs to be.

It was only a week or two ago when it seemed as if Cricket South Africa were all but tumbling into a dark and irreversible abyss.

Fast track to the present day, and “the boys are back”.

I am of course referring to former Proteas superstars, Graeme Smith, the most successful Captain in South Africa cricket, Jacques Kallis, arguably (and in my opinion) the greatest cricket player to ever walk this earth, and Mark Boucher, the gritty gloveman who still boasts the record for the most dismissals in Test cricket.

I was initially very skeptical about the appointment of Graeme Smith as the Director of Cricket; I don’t think many would argue that he is quite an outspoken and forward kind of guy; he calls them as he sees them and I thought he might lose this aspect of his character if he was forced to put on a suit and a tie and was given a scope far wider than what he experienced as our test captain.

Thus far, I am perfectly happily to admit that I was completely wrong. Graeme had his back against the wall, and he has come out swinging with a number of tangible changes as opposed to the hollow promises that we as cricket fans have been subjected to over recent years.

These changes include, but are not limited to, the appointment of Boucher as the Team Director or “head coach”, the appointment of Jacques Kallis as a “batting consultant”, the appointment of Enock Nkwe as Boucher’s Assistant Coach, and the appointment of Charl Langeveldt as the bowling coach.

On paper, there can be no denying that these former cricketers make for a phenomenal looking coaching structure but again, I’m hesitant to get too optimistic.

Yes, South African cricket is indeed in better shape compared to a month ago, with the suspension of CSA CEO Thabang Moroe, the appointment of either highly qualified or highly experienced cricketers in key “administration” positions, the announcements of a formidable South African Test squad, as well as arguably one of the strongest SA ‘A’ squads I’ve seen in years. 

Having said that, cricket is a game played with bat and ball, between two teams of eleven players, the Director of Cricket nor the coaching staff and consultants have any real influence once the coin has been flipped, guards have been taken and that first delivery has been bowled. 

At the end of five days, we’ve either scored the runs and taken the wickets, or we haven’t. If we take a hard look at the Proteas’ recent form, we haven’t been able to do either on a consistent basis, or on a consistent enough basis to really strike fear into the English, who too are looking rather fragile but must be considered hot favorites for the upcoming Test series.

I am concerned that the average cricket fan is under the impression that South African cricket will bounce back immediately. In all honesty, it might, but in my opinion, these things generally take time.

I would argue that for South African cricket to regain its glory from its former years, the selection panel and coaching staff should firstly, not be afraid to bring wholesale changes to the squad.

Secondly, we need to string together long periods of consistent appointments in terms of the coaching staff and support structure as a whole.

Thirdly, a robust domestic structure whereby quality and hardworking youngsters are feeding into the provincial set-up with the intention of playing Franchise and International cricket, and lastly the acknowledgement of Franchise cricketers who have performed for a number of seasons and have improved the quality of cricket being played at that particular level.

I would argue that South African cricket is currently lacking in all these aspects but I take great confidence in a number of selection changes made to the Test squad, the appointment of “permanent” staff as opposed to interim roles, and lastly the acknowledgement by the selection panel, of a number of quality franchise cricketers who have either been called up to the national side, or the SA ‘A’ side for the first time.

Some might be surprised to know that the appointment that I’m the happiest with is in fact Charl Langeveldt. Yes, he doesn’t have a record comparable to that of Smith, Kallis and Boucher, but he was a fantastic bowler back in his day, and dare I say, one of the most skillful bowlers to have ever played for South Africa.

He had the potential to be devastating with the new ball and his conventional away swing, but toss him the old ball 40 overs later and he quickly became the best death bowler South Africa has produced for a very long time. He was a no-nonsense reverse swinging block hole type bowler, which is sadly something we don’t see much of today. 

An aspect of our side that a lot of people tend to overlook is the average age of our bowling unit with guys like Rabada, Ngidi, Nortje and a few others in the pipeline. They are all exceptionally talented bowlers, particularly Rabada, but they still have that “raw” feeling about them, similar to the Dale Steyn we experienced in the early 2000’s when anyone with a keen eye for the game could tell that he just “had it”, but wasn’t quite able to deliver on a scale consistent with his talent and expectations. 

What these players need now more than ever is an experienced and highly skillful former bowler who not only recognizes their potential, but more importantly, helps them to refine their skills and to essentially develop their arsenal as a fast bowling unit.

The same opinion applies to the batting unit, with the likes of Aiden Markram, Zubayr Hamza, Theunis de Bruyn, Temba Bavuma and Quinton de Kock all in critical need of someone who quite literally has been described as technically perfect at the crease.

Jacques Kallis was the rock of the South African batting line-up for over a decade and has achieved more batting and cricketing milestones than anyone of us could really imagine. I have no doubt that he is the best man for the job and I have no doubt that, in time, he will help our top six take the “next step” as batsmen and I believe that we will see them play with a level of maturity and technical precision that nobody else in world cricket would be able to offer.

All in all, I am very pleased with where Cricket South Africa has gone in the last week and I believe that the momentum and direction has undoubtedly shifted from despair to promise and potential.

Graeme Smith, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt all played their cricket very “hard”, and have not only experienced every possible set of conditions that Test cricket has to offer, but have in fact been successful as players and as a team in those said conditions and I for one think that they are exactly what is needed to get South African cricket back to where it needs to be.

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