Follow UsFormer South Africa speedster Eric Simons, who for the longest time has served as a bowling consultant for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), has roped in by the Proteas as the bowling coach for both the 50-over World Cup and the upcoming five-match ODI series against Australia.
The development was confirmed by white-ball coach Rob Walter, who announced the same in the aftermath of the Proteas’ five-wicket defeat in the third T20I against Australia on Sunday.
"Eric has been joining us throughout the winter and will be with us for the ODI series and World Cup," Walter said following the five-wicket loss at Kingsmead.
It is a return to the national coaching set-up for Simons, who 21 years ago (2002) served as the head coach of South Africa. However, Simons stepped down two years later in 2004 following a poor string of results, most notably the failure to go deep at the home World Cup in 2003.
But the 61-year-old, who has more than two decades of coaching experience under his belt, has a World Cup medal to his name, having served as India’s bowling consultant in the 2011 World Cup.
Simons replaces Rory Kleinveldt, who had been serving in an interim capacity. For the Australia T20Is, however, it was Dolphins assistant Quinton Friend who served as the bowling consultant.
The Australia T20I series proved to be a series to forget with the ball for the Proteas. In all, they sent down 52.4 overs and conceded 585 runs at an eye-watering economy of 11.1, while only taking 13 wickets across three matches. Barring skipper Aiden Markram, every single bowler that sent down six overs or more conceded runs at an economy over 10.0.