Former captain Graeme Smith has pulled out of the race to become the Director of Cricket South Africa. He confirmed he was interviewed by CAS for the position that would put him in charge of the national team.
In a statement issued on his Twitter feed on Thursday, Smith said he was not confident that he would have been given the freedom to do the job on his own terms. He said, “I would love to have taken on the role. However, despite my obvious desire to make a difference, during the long and, at times, frustrating process over the last 10 or so weeks of discussions, I have not developed the necessary confidence that I would be given the level of freedom and support to initiate the required changes.” He concluded his statement by wishing the person who will eventually take up the job.
News that Smith was in line for the director role gave rise to hope that he might have been able to transform South African cricket as Rassie Erasmus did with the country’s rugby Springboks, who recently won the Rugby World Cup. Erasmus appeared to have been the freedom to run the team without political or administrative interference.
