Kirsten Confirmed As South Africa Coach

(CNN) — Gary Kirsten has been named as the new coach of South Africa’s national cricket side following his successful three-year stint with India.

The 43-year-old decided not to renew his contract with India after leading the sub-continent team to victory in the limited over Cricket World Cup in April.

Kirsten, a former opening batsman for South Africa, also transformed India into the world’s top-ranked team in the five-day Test format.

“I believe this is a natural progression as far as my coaching career is concerned. My coaching philosophy will not be any different than it was for the Indian team,” he told the Cricket South Africa website on Monday.
“I always endeavor to influence players in a positive way and give them options so that they can grow both as cricketers and as people.”

CSA chief executive Gerald Majola said he was delighted to appoint a man who scored more than 7,000 runs in 101 Tests for his country, scoring 21 centuries.

Kirsten Confirmed as South Africa Coach

“The selection of Gary has brought to an end a process that started several years ago when he first expressed interest in the position,” Majola said.

“Gary’s credentials and cricketing experiences speak for themselves and the Board of CSA is confident that he will lead the Proteas to new heights in all formats of the game.”

Kirsten fills the gap left by caretaker coach Corrie Van Zyl, who took the Proteas to the quarterfinals of the World Cup after Mickey Arthur quit in January 2010.
 
He will be assisted by coach Russell Domingo, while former South Africa star Allan Donald will be the team’s bowling coach.

Kirsten has appointed A.B. de Villiers as the Proteas’ new captain for limited overs matches, and the batsman will be Graeme Smith’s deputy for Test matches.

Meanwhile, the rain-hit second Test between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s appeared to be heading for a draw after the hosts built a 142-run lead going into the final day in London.
Alastair Cook followed up his first-innings 96 with an unbeaten 61 as England reached 149-2 at stumps on Monday.

The opener put on 117 for the second wicket with Jonathan Trott (58) after captain Andrew Strauss was dismissed for a second-ball duck by Chanaka Welegedara.

Sri Lanka had earlier been dismissed for 479, seven runs behind England, after resuming the fourth day on 372-3.

Steven Finn took 4-108 to become, at 22, the youngest English bowler to reach 50 Test wickets.

• Cricket South Africa appoints Gary Kirsten to be new national coach
• The 43-year-old has just ended a three-year spell with World Cup winners India
• Kirsten will be assisted by his former international teammate Allan Donald
• Second Test between England and Sri Lanka at Lord’s is heading for a draw