Cricket South Africa mulling Proteas coaching split

Cricket South Africa have confirmed they are considering splitting the coaching role of the men's Proteas teams after the imminent departure of Mark Boucher.

Boucher is currently leading the team in his final few weeks after announcing his decision to part ways with CSA after the upcoming ICC Twenty20 World Cup in Australia later this month.

The Proteas are in India, where they are wrapping up preparations for the World Cup, although they have so far suffered back-to-back defeats in their three-match T20 series against the hosts.

The former South African wicket-keeper is set to take up the coaching reins of Indian Premier League side Mumbai Indians, and may well have multiple replacements at the national team – one for Test cricket and one for white-ball, according to CSA director of cricket Enoch Nkwe.

"We have to move forward and we have the idea of splitting the roles to have a bit more focus on red-ball and white-ball cricket," Nkwe told News24 Sport at the T20 Women's World Cup launch on Monday.

"We have to look at the reality of where world cricket is going. We still want to play Test cricket and want to revive it, so we want to put a bit more investment in that.

"There's a lot of white-ball cricket in the next eight years. If you look at the FTP, there's an ICC event every year so you're looking at that and still want [some] focus on Test cricket.

"So we're looking at splitting that role and once it's approved, we can move onto the next thing and that is, who are the two to help lead our team moving forward?

"We won't be in a rush, we need to make sure we find a fitting individual and candidate in terms of where our red and white-ball teams should go and how they will take things forward."

The Proteas play their final T20 match – a dead rubber – against India in Indore this afternoon (15:30 SA time).