Uncertainty as Wessels named new EP coach

A degree of uncertainty surrounds a newspaper report that former South African captain Kepler Wessels has been appointed coach of Eastern Province.

According to Monday's Eastern Province Herald, news of Wessels' appointment was leaked to the newspaper before an official announcement could be made by the EP Cricket Board. But in view of a court order granted to the United Cricket Board last Friday placing the EPCB under judicial management, it is not clear whether the EP board has the authority to make such an appointment.

UCB chief executive Gerald Majola said on Monday that he was "surprised" by the announcement.

In terms of the court order, a judicial manager has still to be appointed to look after the affairs of the crisis-torn province which has experience the resignation of several board members, including the president Ronnie Pillay, and the suspension of another in recent months.

As things stand, the former board is no longer empowered to make new appointments and if the decision was taken before the UCB's court application was granted, Majola is likely to request a copy of the minutes of the board at which Wessels was chosen for the job.

Any objection to Wessels coaching EP is almost certain to be administrative. EP lost their previous coach, Adrian Birrell, towards the end of last season after Birrell was understood to have become exhausted by the in-fighting that has plagued that province and opted to take up a position in Ireland, and on the face of it, Wessels' experience appears to give him excellent credentials as a replacement.

He played both Test and one-day cricket for Australia and South Africa and although he has not held a formal coaching position before, he was at one stage thought to be a contender for the South African coaching post, a job that eventually went to Eric Simons.

However, the UCB is likely to look closely at the process that led to Wessels' appointment, if only to clearly establish its authority over Eastern Province until such stage that the union is felt to be capable of running its own affairs.

The Herald also named an EP squad which, it reported, was leaked to it at the same time as Wessels' appointment. The squad contains two new faces in Wade Wingfield from KwaZulu-Natal and Border's Dumisa Makalima. Veteran Dave Callaghan has apparently not been offered a new contract and is set to join Boland.

The full squad is: Umar Abrahams, Carl Bradfield, James Bryant, Johan Botha, Lazole Dipa, Bruce Federicks, Mornantau Hayward, Zwelibanzi Homani, Justin Kemp, Brent Kopps, Garnet Kruger, Dumisa Makalima, Lyall Meyer, Mfuneko Ngam, Robin Petersen, Michael Price, Mpumelelo Silwana and Wade Wingfield.