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Cricket South Africa (CSA), as the sport’s national governing body, hasn’t covered itself in glory over the past few years.

Former CEO Thabang Moroe played a leading role in dismantling any form of effective governance before being ousted. Things were so bad that former CSA CEO Haroon Lorgat actually likened the situation to the Chernobyl disaster.

Graeme Smith then took over as CSA director of cricket and attempted to right the ship, alongside Jacques Faul, but there remains a massive distrust between the board and the players.

Then came the Social Justice and Nation Building report, which saw allegations of racism levelled against both Smith and current men’s coach Mark Boucher. CSA later dropped charges against him and cleared Smith on all charges.

Clearly, there’s little love lost between Boucher and the board and yesterday’s announcement that former Proteas assistant coach Enoch Nkwe is the new CSA director of cricket may make things even more awkward for Boucher.

City Press reports:

Nkwe quit his role as Proteas assistant coach to Mark Boucher in August last year. He apparently cited in his resignation letter that the environment within the management team had become a contaminated space for him to continue to work in.

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Nkwe’s appointment will be awkward as it now means he is Boucher’s boss as the Proteas head coach, and team management report to the CSA director of cricket.

So the guy who used to work under him is now the guy he directly reports to. Talk about the tables being turned.

Nkwe has enjoyed domestic coaching success with the Lions, winning the CSA T20 Challenge and Four-Day Franchise Series in 2018. He also helped the Jozi Stars win the Mzansi Super League in the same year.

At the time he stepped down, Cricinfo elaborated on how the pair butted heads:

…Nkwe’s decision to step down resulted from a disillusionment with the job of assistant coach and differences of opinion with head coach Mark Boucher, but the issues were not related to race.

Several sources close to both Nkwe and Boucher confirmed that the pair’s personalities were incompatible and Boucher’s strong presence as a coach left Nkwe feeling sidelined.

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At the same time, Nkwe also wanted to have less of a role at training sessions and more input into the technical aspects of the game.

The director of cricket position has been vacant since the end of March, when Graeme Smith’s contract came to an end. Nkwe beat former Proteas spinner and current Warriors coach Robin Peterson to the job.

Nkwe steps into the role from today. Along with his appointment, CSA also announced three other positions had been filled. Mtunzi Jonas will become CCO, Tjaart van der Walt CFO, and Wanele Mngomezulu CMO.

Slowly but surely, new CEO Pholetsi Moseki’s team is coming together. Perhaps when everyone is settled, we can work on getting the Proteas some test cricket lined up in the years to come.

As things stand, we’re looking at a very bleak schedule of around five or six tests per year. Meanwhile, England will play around 16 tests a year and you won’t see Australia or India suffering, either.

[sources:citypress&cricinfo]