Gary Kirsten to be appointed South African coach

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Former India coach Gary Kirsten looks set to take over as coach of his native South Africa with the formal appointment scheduled for Monday.

The Star reported on Saturday that Kirsten is set to be joined by his former team-mate and fast bowling legend Allan Donald and domestic side Warriors coach Russell Domingo, who are expected to be included in his management staff pending a Cricket South Africa (CSA) board meeting regarding contractual and personal terms.

Donald, however, is also in talks with the New Zealand Cricket Board over his extension as a bowling coach of the national side. Kirsten was widely expected to replace Corrie van Zyl after the 43-year-old led hosts India to World Cup glory for the first time in 28 years earlier in 2011.

The country’s cricket bosses are not commenting at this stage as CSA are expected to unveil Kirsten at an official press conference. The details in terms of the length of Kirsten’s contract will also be made public there, the report said. CSA also got in touch with renowned international coaches Australian John Buchanan, Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher and Englishman Richard Pybus for the top job.

Fletcher has now joined the Indian team. CSA chief executive Gerald Majola, Van Zyl (high performance manager), Andrew Hudson (selection convener), Andrew O’Connor (chairman, cricket committee) and Boeta Dippenaar (SA Cricketers’ Association representative) are part of the panel that was set up to select the coach. “Gary will be good for South African cricket. He has done unbelievably well with India. He has a great work ethic and knows what is expected of a coach at international level,” former South Africa captain Kepler Wessels said on Friday. On Donald, he said: “Allan has wanted to be involved with the Proteas for a long time. He is very passionate about South African cricket and he will do a good job. He has coached quite a lot and is good technically and tactically.”