Proteas seek two head coaches to replace outgoing Boucher: 'We have to move forward'

Cricket South Africa (CSA) Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe has confirmed that they're looking to split the head coach role into two after Mark Boucher's tenure ends at this month's T20 World Cup in Australia.

Boucher will step away from his post after nearly three years to take charge of Indian Premier League (IPL) giants Mumbai Indians at the close of the T20 World Cup, which ends 13 November.

Under the former Proteas wicketkeeper's guidance since his appointment in 2019, South Africa have won 11 in 20 Tests, 12 out of 25 ODIs and 23 out of 44 T20Is.

Nkwe says it was difficult to accept Boucher's resignation, but he understands the IPL opportunity.

He then pointed to the possibility of two head coach positions - one for the Test side and the other for white-ball cricket.

This isn't a foreign concept as it's a decision that has seen World Cup champions England become a force over the last few years with the split-coaching role, which sees Brendon McCullum coaching the Test side and Matthew Mott as white-ball coach.

"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 on Monday at the T20 Women's World Cup launch at Newlands.

"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 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."

Nkwe says that the process should "hopefully start very soon" and that CSA will advertise the two positions.

"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," he said.

Boucher steered the Proteas through a tumultuous period in the team's and CSA's history with the Black Lives Matter movement, Covid-19 and off-field problems making life on the field challenging.

"You can understand where he has come from, it's been a heavy last couple of years and he has done amazing work with the team through time toughs," Nkwe said.

"It hasn't been an easy journey and he has done well, and you can see where the team is at now.

"We would've obviously loved to have him move with the team forward as he has grown with the team has been fantastic."

Nkwe, who was once Boucher's assistant coach before stepping down, says CSA has had to ask some tough questions after losing Boucher. 

"It's never easy when someone resigns and you ask a lot of questions, but I'm glad he got the IPL gig," he said. 

"And I know he'll keep growing as a coach and it's exciting for him. We know he will give more of his experience and opportunities to future generations at the IPL, but I hope he does well."

The Proteas have already surrendered the T20 series to India, having gone 2-0 down ahead of Tuesday's final game in Indore (15:30 SA time).

South Africa will then play three ODIs before embarking to Australia for the T20 World Cup, starting on 16 October.