There’s been a change in the South African cricket squad, with Malibongwe Maketa named South Africa’s interim head coach. With this appointment, he will head the upcoming three-match Test tour of Australia.
The Test tour begins on 17 December this year.
Maketa’s appointment is significant because it makes him the second black African coach after Enoch Nkwe, the current director of cricket, who had assumed Maketa’s current role in an interim capacity in 2019.
South African cricket has been a subject of conversation for as long as one can remember, with some claiming that it is a hotbed of racism, with blacks were rarely given opportunities. Some would counter that narrative, though.
Maketa is not new to cricket. He has been around the turf and was part of the touring group to England in August. His appointment in an interim capacity follows the current head coach Mark Boucher’s announcement that he’d be leaving at the end of the ongoing Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
But will Maketa’s current appointment shit the conversation to something entirely positive and provoke a renaissance in South African cricket?
For Maketa, he’s taken up a position where a whole nation will be looking in his direction to see how well he will perform with the squad entrusted to him.
