If Malibongwe Maketa's appointment as Ottis Gibson's assistant at the Proteas had come 40 days earlier, it would have made for a perfect 37th birthday. However, the current Warriors head coach isn't worried about such a trivial matter.
After all, the Port Elizabeth native, Maketa, has been in the franchise coaching set-up for about 10 years and felt the timing of his new gig is just about perfect.
"My goal has always been to coach at the highest level and I guess that's being in the national team set-up," he said.
"I wouldn't say it came at the time where I was expecting it, because I wasn't, but I have done a lot of work at franchise level and I've been coaching at this level for almost 10 years. I've learnt a lot and I'm still learning. It's something else to say I've been doing the right things as a coach.
"I'm mindful of the fact that I'm a coach, as well as the fact that I'm black but I'm grateful for the opportunity," he added.
Contrary to Ollie le Roux's assertions that former international players should have an autobahn to international coaching jobs, cricket has regularly bucked this trend.
Maketa, who only has one List A game for KwaZulu-Natal Inland against Boland in 2007, replaced Adrian Birrell, who took part in 45 first-class games and five List A ones...