CSA to conduct review of South Africa’s performance at T20 World Cup

“The emotions aren’t as raw, but in terms of disappointment and disbelief, it’s still there,” Bavuma said. “It will take me a few days.”

The ups and downs of the past three years in South Africa – since former CEO Thabang Moroe took the decision to overhaul the coaching system and install a team manager who was then quickly replaced by a trainer, Boucher – were observed firsthand by Nkwe. He served as interim team manager during a disastrous tour of India in 2019, then served for nearly two years under Boucher before stepping down, citing concerns about team culture. His return to a supervisory role saw him replace Graeme Smith as DOC, which was followed by Boucher’s resignation. If that sounds chaotic, imagine what it must have been like to be involved in it, as confirmed by Nkwe. “As a system, we’ve been through a lot,” he said. “We went through a bit of a turmoil.”

When asked if he thought the sum total of off-pitch events (the example above is just a small sample) affected the team, Nkwe said he wouldn’t use it. as an apology. “One thing I’ve been proud of with this team over the past two years is that they’ve been able to go to the park and compete and try to win games,” he said. “They managed to eliminate all the noise and everything that happens off the pitch. Somehow we found a way to get to a point where we remain competitive. I think the team did very well.”

Still, he admitted the World Cup exit was “disappointing” and that the guilt had to fall somewhere, perhaps with CSA. “We will always take full responsibility,” Nkwe said. “When results are poor, the organization will be singled out for what has happened in the past and whether there has been enough support. Whether the team loses or wins, we will always support the team and ask us questions about what more we can do.”

And the last of them is where Nkwe is now focusing. He wouldn’t say if he was okay with the decision to leave out in-form players like Reeza Hendricks or persist with out-of-form players like Kagiso Rabada because “I don’t get involved in selection”, but he said there will be a “clear strategy for the future”. With an ICC event every year for the next eight years, South Africa is emphasizing “How can we best prepare for the upcoming World Cups?”

Considering they’ve never won a World Cup, it’s fair to assume no one really has the answers, but Nkwe has made it clear he will try to find them. “There’s a culture that we drive internally to make sure we put cricket in a good, healthy space,” he said. “There is a lot of work behind the scenes and what we are all working on is to ensure that our national teams reach first place and win World Cups. We are now at the point where we can make a difference and that will be our focus. There are so many opportunities as an organization to change everything. Hopefully next year we can be in a different position to celebrate our team winning the World Cup.”