SA board retains van Zyl, Smith

Corrie van Zyl and Graeme Smith have been confirmed as South Africa's interim coach and captain until the 2011 World Cup. The announcement was made on Friday, following a Cricket South Africa (CSA) board meeting in Johannesburg, where it was also decided that the restructuring of the organisation, which was due to be discussed, will only take effect after the 2011 tournament.

Gerald Majola, CSA's chief executive, has been given the task of managing the process to put in place the new structures. Majola had called for a change in CSA set-up following the resignation of former coach Mickey Arthur shortly before the tour of India and the sacking of the selection panel led by Mike Procter.

A four-member selection panel, consisting of a convener, a high performance representative, the captain and the coach, will be appointed. In the interim, the current selection panel of Majola, who is also acting as the convenor, van Zyl and batting consultant Kepler Wessels will remain in office.

Van Zyl has been asked to stay on as interim coach until the end of the World Cup. Speculation was rife ahead of the meeting that van Zyl, who had worked as assistant coach in the past, would be asked to stay on to provide stability as the team prepares for the 2011 tournament. van Zyl was previously the High Performance Coach and he had a five-year coaching stint at the Eagles franchise. He told Cricinfo, prior to the Indian tour, that he would not turn down the role of national coach for a longer period if it was offered to him.

CSA also added six players to the list of contracted players for the 2010-2011 season: Loots Bosman, Alviro Petersen, Charl Langeveldt,Ryan McLaren, Roelof van der Merwe and Rusty Theron. Of those players only Theron has yet to debut for South Africa. The Warriors seamer was reported for a suspect action in October last year, during a first-class match, but was later cleared by CSA after undergoing testing. He was the leading wicket taker in this season's MTN40 with 21 wickets at an average of 18.80.

Bosman has been in bruising form since returning from reconstructive knee surgery last year. Petersen had an outstanding debut, scoring a century in the second test against India in Kolkata. McLaren made his Test debut against England in Johannesburg and played five ODIs and two Twenty20s for the country.

Thirty-five year old Langeveldt has dipped in and out of national squads, but was recalled to the side for the ODIs against India and van der Merwe's aggressive left arm spin have made him a feature in South Africa's one-day side. Makhaya Ntini, who was dropped from the squad during the England series and did not make the trip to India, was also given a contract.