In former West Indian allrounder and current England bowling coach Ottis Gibson, South Africa will have only their second foreign coach and a much-needed difference in terms of school of thought.
The 48-year-old Barbadian just needs to dot the I's and cross the T's to become the first West Indian to coach South Africa.
While Gibson's appointment has yet to be formally ratified, Sunday Times understands Gibson could be released from his England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) contract in time to get the Proteas ready for next month's engagement with Bangladesh.
Sunday Times understands Gibson is aware of the transformation mandates.
The finer details of his employment will be discussed at next month's annual general meeting where Gibson will select support staff.
A bowling coach by trade, it is highly likely there will be a different look to the back-room crew consisting currently of Adrian Birrell (fielding), Charl Langeveldt (bowling), Claude Henderson (spin bowling) and Neil McKenzie (batting).Gibson played in 15 ODIs and two tests, the last of which was at Newlands in 1999.
In light of the successive South African coaches that took over after the late Bob Woolmer in 1999, the Proteas are ripe for change and that is what informed the need to chart a new coaching trajectory.
Graeme Ford, Eric Simons, Ray Jennings, Mickey Arthur, Corrie van Zyl, Gary Kirsten and Russell Domingo were the successive South African coaches tasked with taking the national team to new heights.
While there was incremental improvement and success at test level from 2001 to 2015, an International Cricket Council (ICC) trophy wasn't delivered.
This is something Gibson has already delivered in a shorter time period with the West Indies when they won the 2012 ICC T20 World Cup.
It was on the back of this success the cash-flush ECB rehired Gibson in 2015 despite an underwhelming end to what started out as a promising coaching stint with the West Indies between 2010 and 2015.
The high regard in which the ECB held Gibson meant they had no qualms in continuing the coaching relationship that started in 2007 when the England bowling attack transitioned from the awesome foursome of Andrew Flintoff, Steven Harmison, Matthew Hoggard and Simon Jones that won the 2005 Ashes to the current excellence displayed by James Anderson and Stuart Broad...