Southern Brave officially appoint Stephen Fleming as their new head coach for The Hundred 2023

Former New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming has officially been appointed as the new head coach of the Southern Brave and would be guiding them in the 2023 edition of The Hundred men’s competition. The southpaw will be succeeding Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene.

Fleming is one of the most accomplished coaches in franchise cricket having guided the Chennai Super Kings to four IPL titles and two now-defunct CLT20 championships in 2010 and 2014.

It is a real privilege: Stephen Fleming

"It is a real privilege to have been offered the role of Southern Brave head coach," said Fleming.

"The competition has looked fantastic from afar and I can't wait to be a part of it next season,” he added.

Fleming has a busy schedule in the coming year. While he will be coaching CSK in IPL 2023, he will also be coaching the new franchise Joburg Super Kings in the inaugural edition of the SA20 league that gets underway in January 2023.

The southpaw has a wealth of coaching experience having guided franchises like the Melbourne Stars and the Rising Pune Supergiant in the past. He will be reunited with former CSK member and the current RCB skipper Faf du Plessis during SA20 as Faf will be leading the Johannesburg-based franchise.

Under Mahela Jayawardena, Southern Brave won the inaugural edition of the 100-ball tournament in 2021 and finished seventh this year as they were marred with injuries.

Jayawardene decided to part ways with Southern Brave after he was promoted as the head of global performance at Mumbai Indians (MI) from the position of the head coach and, therefore, Fleming has been picked to succeed the Sri Lankan batting icon.

Mahela has been associated with MI since IPL 2016 and coached them during three title-winning campaigns in the 2017, 2019, and 2020 editions respectively.

It would now be interesting to see whether Fleming will be able to change the fortunes of Southern Brave from next season onwards or not.