PRETORIA, (Reuters) – South Africa coach Russell Domingo hopes his side’s comprehensive 280-run victory in the fourth test against England will halt the criticism levelled at the side after successive series defeats knocked them off the top of the world rankings.
South Africa lost 3-0 in India last year before going down 2-1 at home to England, exposing weaknesses in the team’s batting line-up, in particular.
“The main thing I take out of it was the way side responded to a lot of noise that has come from the public and the media,” Domingo told reporters on Tuesday.
“When you have one or two bad series, everybody makes you sound like you are the worst players and the worst coaches in the world which is not necessarily the case.
Domingo said his players had maintained their composure really well through tough times.
“To play the way they have played these last couple of days makes the coaching staff really proud because it has been a tough series,” he said.
After a series of embarrassing batting collapses recently, including their two lowest test innings totals since readmission to international cricket in 1991, the team have been criticised for being the only top nation without a batting coach.
“Everybody thinks we have not been looking for a batting coach but we’ve been trying for the last year,” Domingo said.
“Every team’s got it. England have got one, Australia have got one, India have got one.
“We’ve offered the position to quite a few people and we offered the position whilst things were going well, not whilst we’ve been bowled out for 80 and 90.
Domingo said they had a candidate in mind.
“We’ve had a few people who said they were interested but they wouldn’t commit to it simply because travelling is not that fun when you are away from your family for a long time and when there is a lot of pressure and a lot of criticism you are faced with when things don’t go well,” he said.
(Reporting by Nick Said, editing by Ed Osmond)
