Russell Domingo reapplies for the South African Head Coach position

Current South African Head coach, Russell Domingo has reapplied for the position he’s holding. His contract is due to expire at the end of South Africa’s Test series in England. On Monday, July 3rd, he confirmed for the first time that he has put himself in the running to take the Proteas to the 2019 World Cup. He affirmed to have forwarded an application form and gone through an interview for the position.

Domingo took charge of the South African team for Twenty20 Internationals in December 2012 and replaced his predecessor, Gary Kirsten in the remaining formats (Tests and ODIs) in August 2013. However, he has admitted that his re-appointment is a procedure that is no longer in his control. This may be predominantly because of lack of faith that Cricket South Africa (CSA)’s process has shown in him.

Domingo had not been as unequivocal in the past

Interestingly, this is the first firm statement that has been issued by Domingo. When the Proteas were knocked out of the Champions Trophy on June 11, Domingo said he was “not yet” sure whether he wanted to reapply. He attributed his dilemma to many reasons.

“Number one is obviously family life, which is obviously important. Number two, the performance of the team – whether you feel you are the right guy to take the team forward, whether they are showing signs of improvement in all formats. Player support is massively important. Those are the things you have to weigh up when you try to decide whether you want to stay on or not.”

CSA’s move to throw Russell Domingo off the wagon?

Further, the CSA has reportedly not bestowed the coach with the desired amount of trust, either. The governing body had previously, slipped in that they would be assessing candidates to coach the national team from September, quite unceremoniously, in the bottom line of a media release on the day that the Proteas were playing Sri Lanka in a one-day international in January. This was earlier brushed off as an administrative issue, but it was clearly a step taken to move on from the coach.

Speaking about this, Domingo said, “I’ll be honest with you, if that is it, then so be it. It’s cool. It’s out of my control,” he said. “It’s not something I go to bed thinking about or wake up in the morning thinking about. It’s not something that generally affects me. I can’t comment on what the particular feeling is towards how people are seeing (the process). It’s out of my control. It’s not the way I see it, and the way I see it is that there’s due process that needs to take place. They need to decide if I’m the right guy to take the team forward and so be it. That’s how it is.”

Unconditional player support for Russell Domingo