Former South African captain Graeme Smith has been appointed South Africa’s director of cricket on a two-year contract until Match 2022.
Smith had been appointed in an interim capacity last December.
He was due to take a break from national duty for commentary in the Indian Premier League which has since been postponed indefinitely. Smith, 39, captained South Africa in 108 Test matches and in 149 one-day internationals.
It was during his captaincy tenure that saw South Africa rise be the top-ranked Test team in the world.
Smith’s temporary appointment last December was at a time of crisis in South African cricket following the suspension of chief executive Thabang Moroe.
This was further enhanced resignations by members of the CSA board, the exodus of sponsorships and a poor performance by the national team in the 2019 Cricket World Cup, which was followed by a 3-0 thrashing in a Test series in India.
There was a glimmer of hope at the end of the South African summer with a 3-0 whitewash of Australia in the ODI’s.
Smith emphasized his first priority in his first press E-conference as director to be on the T20 World Cup which is scheduled to take place in Australia later this year.
He also confirmed that the newly appointed limited-overs, Captain Quinton de Kock will not be taking Test match captaincy with a new Test captain set to be announced soon.
South Africa is scheduled to tour the West Indies and Sri Lanka in June and July but the tours have been put in doubt with the Corona-virus outbreak.