Russell Domingo blames heavy workloads for failure in tri-series

South African coach Russell Domingo blames the heavy workload of South African players as the reason for the team’s failure in the tri-series in West Indies. Domingo feels that the Cricket South Africa management should take effective measures to manage player’s workloads outside the international schedule.

South Africa was thrashed out as they failed to qualify for the finals of the tri-series, which featured the hosts West Indies and Australia. The Aussies went on to win the finals of the series beating the hosts Windies.

“This loss comes on the back of our top players playing too much cricket,” Domingo said on his arrival in South Africa. “It’s a big concern for me. It’s one of the points I need to highlight with my superiors when I get time to sit down and chat with them.”

“Think about our seriously long tour to India, long tour against England, then straight into the World T20. Then players stayed behind, played the IPL and flew straight to the Caribbean. Some players arrived two days before our first game in Guyana and now some are staying another four weeks in the Caribbean, some are playing county cricket, then home for two weeks, then a series against New Zealand, then go and play a mini IPL, then straight into a tour against Australia. Those are challenges that the coaching staff and the players are sitting with at the moment. When you are playing that amount of cricket for that period of time, it’s difficult to maintain the standards consistently,” Domingo explained about the busy schedule of the South African cricketers.

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Out of the 15-man squad for South Africa in the tri-series, 11 players were a part of the World T20 squad, 10 played in the IPL, 6 are staying on for the CPL, 2 players headed for county stints and the rest will play for the A side.

“The desire and the hunger levels when you are playing day in and day out will wane at some stage. There’s no doubt about that. You can’t give 100% to ten different teams for ten months. Something’s got to give,” he said.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) had issued NOC (No-Objection Certificate) to the players, which means that the players are allowed to spent off-time in foreign leagues. “CSA management will need to look at the process going forward, how they release NOCs, taking into account the long international season,” team manager Mohammed Moosajee said.

Domingo said that it is important to make sure that the team is hungry enough to perform for the country despite being a part of different cash rich leagues around the world. “The big challenge for me is making sure that international cricket is still the main priority for our players. There are a lot of tournaments, a lot of money to be made, a lot of opportunities for players to get out there and market themselves so I need to be making sure we focus really hard on our No.1 priority and that is representing our country,” he said.

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“Sometimes, if you have done it for a long time, you can take it for granted maybe. There is a lot happening outside international cricket. Making sure guys are fresh and hungry to perform for their country is of utmost importance for me.”

He doesn’t feel like he was let down by the players, rather he said that it was the performances which let him down. “I wouldn’t say the players have let me down. I’m not a coach who is going to sit here and blame the players for lack of performances. Coaches have to front up and take the brunt of it when performances are not there,” he said. “I don’t feel let down by players, I feel let down by performances. The results haven’t been as good as what we’ve wanted. I feel the players gave it as much as they possibly could.”

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The 41-year old also pointed out two match situations, which was probably the reason for the South Africa’s failure in the series. “The one was where we needed 96 runs off 15 overs against Australia we were three down and we lost. The batters let us down. Then, in the last game, we had West Indies 21 for 4 after 5 overs and our next 12 overs were very average. We bowled really poorly and allowed West Indies to get some momentum and establish a partnership. Those two phases probably cost us getting into the final and possibly winning the tournament,” Domingo said. “But I definitely think the team has got big-match temperament. This team has managed to win some must-win games in ODI and T20 cricket over the last two or three years.”

“Until we win a world event, people will always question us. There’s another opportunity next year. There’s a Champions Trophy. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in our one-day side to get us to be contenders for that but, with the players within our ranks, if we can manage them properly and make sure when the time comes they are all fully fit, all swimming in the same direction, we’ll be one of the teams to beat there,” he added. Domingo’s contract expires before the Champions Trophy next year.

“There’s always pressure. We know that playing for your country is the ultimate. It’s representing the people back home and we want to represent them well. We know how passionate our supporters are and how much time and money and effort gets put into our cricket. Management and players are under pressure to perform at all times,” he concluded.