Rather than push the exit button, the Northerns Cricket Union have given Mandla Mashimbyi every ounce of support as they seek to avoid ending a season trophyless for the first time 12 years.
The Titans, much like crosstown football neighbours Mamelodi Sundowns, have grown accustomed to success, having won 18 titles outright since the advent of the franchise system in 2004/05.
But this summer has been a difficult one for the perennial winners, with a fifth-place finish in the One-Day Cup, followed by a third-place finish in the Four-Day competition, while they are now sixth at the halfway stage of the CSA T20 Challenge, a tournament they won last year.
While there has been some nerves at administrative level, the union’s CEO, Dr Jacques Faul, said Mashimbyi deserved everyone’s support, and that any assessment would be done once the T20 Challenge was completed.
“He is the current coach of the year, he’s been with us over a decade and was on the coaching staff for a lot of our success,” said Faul. He explained that he understood the tension among some officials within Northerns Cricket. “We will obviously review what has happened this season and that will be a proper process. In many ways he’s a victim of his own success.”
That process includes a numerical evaluation, where the position the team finishes in each competition is added together to arrive at what the union believes is a balanced figure that reflects the overall standard in a particular season. “For us it’s 12, so he is five plus three and we will add the finish to the T20 Challenge when that is over,” said Faul. Given the Titans’ current spot in that competition, it would put Mashimbyi beyond the threshold.
The Titans have run a steady ship with the transition from coaches like Richard Pybus, to Rob Walter, Mark Boucher and then Mashimbyi all occurring seamlessly.
There is no ego with Mandla, he is all about what is good for the team. He is also a top, top human being, a really good person, who we want to support.
— Dr Jacques Faul, CEO Northerns Cricket Union
This season has really been the first major hiccup, but Faul pointed out Mashimbyi has also been dealt a tricky hand.
The team is very much in the midst of a transition, with little on-field experience to help manage the younger players. So where the likes of Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen and Lungi Ngidi had old hands like Henry Davids and Farhaan Behardien to guide them, the new Titans generation like Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Steve Stolk are missing similar counsel.
“We understood we’d lose Aiden, Heinrich and Lungi to IPL, but on top of that we’ve also lost (Dewald) Brevis, (Donovan) Ferreira and then Gerald Coetzee, which, especially with the latter two, is not something we’d factored in at the start of the season.” Then there was the Proteas tour to New Zealand, which saw them lose the four-day captain Neil Brand, at a crucial stage in that competition. Brand missed the last round-robin match against the Lions, which the Titans lost, thereby losing out on a spot in the final.
There’s also been the usual misfortune with injuries, the weather and along with poor form for the limited overs clipper Sibonelo Makhanya it's all added up to the troubles Mashimbyi has had to deal with all summer.
The Titans are throwing everything they have at defending the T20 title, even though they have been forced to pick teenagers Pretorius and Stolk at the top of the order, while they are still hoping to have Ngidi fit for the remainder of the tournament.
In addition they’ve brought Albie Morkel onto the coaching staff, along with Boucher’s former assistant at the Proteas Rivash Gobind and former Proteas seam bowler Vernon Philander. “There is no ego with Mandla, he is all about what is good for the team,” Faul said.
“He is also a top, top human being, a really good person, who we want to support.”
Nevertheless there is a lot riding on the next few weeks for Mashimbyi and the Titans. Despite having “credit in the bank”, high-level coaching is a cut-throat environment, particularly at a union with such lofty expectations as the Titans.
Faul won’t be solely responsible for any decision regarding Mashimbyi’s future. “There are a number of things that are factored in as a provincial coach; are producing Proteas, is the team competitive ... We will also listen to the players, who will give us their perspective. I don’t think we can adopt an aggressive, football-style approach. We must also ask ourselves, ‘how many good coaches are out there? Is there someone who is an equal or better replacement?’”
The Titans' next match is against the table-topping, unbeaten Warriors, who they will face in Gqeberha on Friday evening.
