Proteas limited overs coach Rob Walter has asked the man who coached the national team 20 years ago to be a part of his team to oversee the World Cup campaign in India from early October.
Eric Simons has been involved in two winter camps with the national players and Walter is convinced that he would make a significant difference to their chances of winning the title for the first time.
Simons oversaw South Africa’s 2003 campaign on home soil which ended with the heart-breaking, rain-induced ‘tie’ against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead when Mark Boucher blocked the final delivery against Muthiah Muralitharan, with rain falling, in the belief that his team were ahead on the recently introduced Duckworth/Lewis system for deciding rain-affected matches.
Simons was also India’s bowling coach under Gary Kirsten when they won the World Cup on home soil in 2011.
Since then Simons has become one of the world’s most successful coaches in Franchise cricket having served over a decade in the Indian Premier League, first with Delhi – where he was head coach – and then, briefly, with RCB before forming the most successful partnerships in the tournament’s history with former New Zealand captain, Stephen Fleming, at Chennai Super Kings.
Simons has been involved in six IPL finals, one with RCB (when the tournament was played in South Africa), one with Pune – also with Fleming when CSK were suspended – and four with CSK, three of which were won.
'A LAYER OF UNDERSTANDING AND PERSPECTIVE'
Ostensibly a bowling coach, Simons offers far more than technical skills to the teams he is involved with. Life skills and ‘tournament skills’ have, perhaps, been the Proteas’ Achilles heel in many previous tournaments and Walter believes Simons can contribute to filling that void.
“I was very happy to be involved in the camps and didn’t expect to be asked about the World Cup, but I’m keen to be involved,” Simons said. “I still have a few personal logistics to sort out but, hopefully, I can be there for the majority of the time, if not all of it.”
Simons worked closely with Sisanda Magala at CSK during the most recent IPL but has extensive experience with many of the likely Proteas squad and, naturally, with Indian venues and conditions.
“Most of the squad will have experience of playing in India at some level and, in so many ways India has been my cricketing home for the last decade,”
Simons said. “Hopefully my time and experience there will add a layer of understanding and perspective to the nuances of playing in India. If involved, I will do whatever I can to help the campaign.”
Simons played 123 first-class matches, mainly for Western Province, and 193 List ‘A’ games, and 23 ODIs for South Africa. He is one of the few players in the game’s history to boast a higher batting average than bowling average in both formats.