Graeme Smith appointed Director of Cricket South Africa

“Graeme has made a huge impact with his energy, expertise, hard work ethic and characteristic determination and passion he has brought to the position during the six months he has served in an acting capacity,” said Dr. Jacques Faul, CSA’s Acting Chief Executive.

“Although there is certainly a great deal of work to be done, as reflected by the performances of our various national teams, he has certainly put our cricket on an upward trajectory that provides light at the end of the tunnel. He has bought into all the overall pillars of our strategy and that includes the important one of transformation.”

Smith was appointed as the interim director in mid-December, when CSA was amidst a crisis and now, it’s a full-time role.

“As far as the technical and support teams he has put together are concerned, the black generic component amounted to more than 70 percent across the board and the Black African component varied between 30 and 60 percent for the Standard Bank Proteas for the home international season, for the Momentum Proteas for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and for the ICC under-19 World Cup, which we were privileged and proud to host,” said Dr. Faul.

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“He also made a number of strategic temporary appointments with Linda Zondi appointed interim independent national selector, Ashwell Prince taking charge of South Africa A and Malibongwe Maketa joining the under-19 squad as a coaching consultant.”

Smith, former South Africa captain, was delighted to take up the role and expressed his aim to plan the road ahead for cricket in the country.

“My appointment brings a degree of permanency to my position which makes planning the road ahead a lot easier,” said Smith, who, at 22, was the youngest to captain the South Africa men’s side.

“As Dr. Faul has said, there is a lot of work that still needs to be done, not just at international level but throughout our pipeline development pathways as well but I am determined to get South African cricket back to where it belongs as one of the world leaders at international level.”