5 areas where Russell Domingo failed as South Africa coach
South Africa are one of the most decorated teams in world cricket. They are currently ranked No. 2, No. 1 and No. 7 in Tests, ODIs and T20Is respectively.
Their recent struggles don't really reflect in the rankings. Russell Domingo, who coached the South African national team for about four years, took over the reins from one of the most decorated coaches in cricket history, Gary Kirsten.
He bowed out after a roller-coaster tenure. While the first two years went along smoothly, the last 18 months or so hasn’t really been the same for the South African team. Thus, Domingo’s contract wasn't renewed after it ended in August this year as Ottis Gibson replaced him as the head coach.
In a recent interview, the South African revealed that he will be handing over an 'unfinished article' to the person who succeeds him (Ottis Gibson)."There are definite holes in the Test side that need a bit of attention, some tinkering which must take place," Domingo said.
Though Domingo will still stay in the thick of things in South African cricket coaching the ‘A’ team, we look into 5 areas where he failed as the coach of South Africa.
#1 Inconsistency in the last two years
In the last two years (since July 2015 – the start of Bangladesh series), South Africa have been very inconsistent - especially in Test cricket. Out of the 25 Test matches played, they have won 9 and lost 9, something that reflects the magnitude of their inconsistency.
Even out of the 7 Tests that have been drawn, most of them have been affected by rain and South Africa were in a spot of bother in almost each of them. So, Domingo failed to inspire confidence when South Africa were in trouble during matches or the series. The Proteas, who are known to fight till the end, seemed lost mid-way through a few series where they were behind.
They lost to Australia 2-1 (in 2014) and England 2-1 (in 2015-16) at home. The loss to England led to Amla quitting captaincy midway through the series. There have been four Test skippers under Domingo–Graeme Smith (retired in 2014), Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis.
As a result, inconsistency crept in.