South Africa needs a director of cricket
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
AFP
Eric Simons, the former South Africa coach, feels the team has become static in the fast-moving world of limited-overs cricket and suggests that having a director of cricket - given the board has all others aspects covered - could have helped in avoiding the prolonged rebuilding process the team is undergoing in the shorter forms of the game. Simons says on iafrica.com:
Like it or not sport is now a business and cricket is our product which competes for the attention of sports lovers around the world. In our industry the one-day game is ultimately what generates the real money. Having to go through a building phase in our most lucrative product range is like not opening our store during the Christmas rush. It makes no business sense.
The game has got to become more professional in its attitude. Can you imagine the CEO of a listed company telling the shareholders that many of senior management had retired in the last year and new management needs time to develop so there might not be any profits for a while?
Can you imagine Sir Alex Ferguson telling supporters that his team is in a building phase and they must not expect too much from them this season? Why should an international cricket team be any different?
Mathew Varghese is sub-editor (stats) at Cricinfo