Enoch Nkwe putting Cricket SA future eggs in SA-A basket

Nkwe, who was appointed to the role in 2022, says they have been working on a five-year plan since he took over, and it’s now starting to pay dividends.

“Two and a half years ago, in 2022 – when we embarked on this journey, we obviously needed to look at our five-year plan that was approved by the board," said Nkwe.

"But from a cricketing point of view, we also needed to look at the World Cup 2027, and also look at the WTC cycles. Within these five years we knew that we’re going to have two cycles, with the big goal of giving ourselves the best chance of winning a double in 2027.

"We then worked backwards and asked ourselves what’s important? Our Under-19 programme is very important. Our ‘Emerging’ programme, to make sure we manage that transition of our identified players from Under-19 to senior cricket. 

"Our SA-A content, and domestic cricket will always be there, but there’s good alignment from a national point of view. The key element became SA-A because we knew within these five years there would be transition phases of players retiring or even losing form.”

The former Highveld Lions head coach also says there is an intentional effort to synchronise all the coaches at both domestic and national level, to ensure the conveyor belt keeps on churning out talent.

“It’s an ongoing conversation or discussion. It’s been constant alignment, whether you’re using coaches’ conferences or engaging with coaches individually," he added.

"Bearing in mind that we’ll have two or three [players] who are unfortunately ageing and might not have the legs to continue, so for us it’s making sure that, 'Okay who’s next in line?' And that’s where the impact of the SA-A programme becomes powerful."

He said it’s important to also have all the coaches working with and supporting Shukri Conrad, who was recently appointed all-formats coach following Rob Walter's resignation.

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