Russell Domingo A Relieved Man After Losing South Africa Coach Job
Sep 22, 2017 at 10:00 PM
Former South Africa coach Russell Domingo might have given a hint on why he parted ways with the Proteas. Domingo had reapplied for the post and with several players including AB de Villiers backing him to remain the head coach.
“We’re with a great coach at the moment who is really leading the side well. We all get along with him and we all love him as our coach,” de Villiers had said during the Champions Trophy before expressing his desire to see Domingo continuing as coach.
However, Domingo did not get another shot as South Africa’s coach as former West Indies coach Ottis Gibson was roped in as the head coach. But Domingo is not too disappointed on missing out from the post as he admitted that losing the job is a huge “weight off his shoulders”.
“Coaching the national team is definitely a high-pressure job and definitely I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders‚” Domingo told the TimesLive website.
“I have loved my time being the national team coach for four years but to be honest it wears you down,” he added.
Domingo is now hopeful that he will ‘reinvent himself’ as the coach when he takes charge of the inaugural T20 Global League franchise, the Pretoria Mavericks.
“It is nice to get away from that type of pressure and re-invent myself as a coach‚” said Domingo.
Domingo had taken the role of South Africa coach in 2013 from Gary Kirsten and had enjoyed some unprecedented success with the Proteas. After an average outing in 2015, the Proteas did reasonably well last year.
South Africa defeated New Zealand before becoming the first ODI side to whitewash Australia 5-0. They followed it up with a highly impressive Test series win in Australia before thrashing Sri Lanka in Tests and ODIs at home. Domingo’s last assignment, however, did not go well as the Faf du Plessis-led side suffered a humiliating 3-1 loss in the Test series against England.