JP Duminy assigned as South Africa coaching consultant

South Africa’s leading run-scorer in T20Is, JP Duminy, has been named as one of two specialist consultants for the upcoming T20 World Cup. Duminy, along with Justin Sammons, who has been with the team in Sri Lanka, will fill the space left by former assistant coach Enoch Nkwe. Cricket South Africa are in the process of finding Nkwe’s long-term replacement.

In his time, Duminy was best known for his cover drive, square cut, quick wrists, and athletic fielding. With more than a decade of international cricket in his experience, his most well-known accomplishment was becoming South Africa’s leading T20 run-scorer, in 2013, as well as the first from the country to score 1500 runs in the format.Duminy made his ODI debut in 2004 but had a forgettable run with two ducks in five innings and was only recalled two years later. In 2006, he made 60 on comeback against Zimbabwe, but it was not enough to send him to the 2007 World Cup.His performances earned him a lucrative US$950,000 deal with Mumbai Indians.

Both Duminy and Sammons are part of the current coaching consultants, Duminy very recently so. He was appointed head of the batting department for the Johannesburg-based Lions over the winter, his first coaching job. Sammons, who has previously worked with the Lions, is the coach of North West province.
 
“Justin previously worked with the Proteas during the first part of our current tour of Sri Lanka so he has already developed a good working relationship with the players,” CSA’s director of cricket Graeme Smith said. “JP is a perfect fit for T20 cricket. His record as a player speaks for itself and he will bring specific skills in all three disciplines of batting, bowling and fielding.”
 
South Africa’s entire backroom staff will include head coach Mark Boucher, bowling coach Charl Langeveldt (who did not travel to Sri Lanka as he recovered from Covid-19), fielding coach Justin Ontong, Duminy and Sammons, who will share the batting coach duties.
 
South Africa have not had a batting coach since they used Jacques Kallis in a short-term role in the 2019/20 season. Since then, CSA hired Neil McKenzie as a batting lead, but his role includes the national men’s, women’s and under-19 teams as well as the development pipeline, and he has not traveled with the men’s team.
 
Since Duminy has a tremendous record in T20,it will be interesting to see how successful he is in guiding the young South African team in the prestigious T20 World Cup arranged in UAE.

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