Domingo, Kirsten and Donald were all hired at the same time

South Africa assistant coach Russell Domingo has been promoted to the role of head coach of the country’s Twenty20 side.

However, despite Gary Kirsten retaining responsibility of all three squads, Cricket South Africa have decided to take some of the pressure off his shoulders by appointing Domingo to handle everything concerning the shortest format of the game.

Domingo took up his new role during South Africa’s three-Twenty20 series against New Zealand and is expected to face his first true test when Pakistan visit the country next month to play two Twenty20 Internationals.

“I believe this decision is a positive move to creating a more sustainable and balanced coaching approach,” Kirsten said. “It’s common best-practice around the world, and we feel it will give us the platform to spread our coaching resources efficiently.”

Kirsten welcomed the split coaching roles, especially since his wife is expecting to have their third child soon.

Both Kirsten and Domingo, along with bowling coach Allan Donald were hired by Cricket South Africa in June last year.

Kirsten now hopes that Domingo can help South Africa climb up the Twenty20 rankings and establish themselves as the top Twenty20 side soon enough, just like they have done in Test cricket.

“He fully understands the team culture and will be able to build that culture with the new crop of T20 players we will be blooding this season,” Kirsten said.

South Africa are starting to include more and more youngsters in their Twenty20 side and Kirsten added that Domingo was the perfect man for the job since he was in charge of the Warriors franchise before becoming assistant coach, which means that he will have intricate knowledge of the best players in the domestic circuit.

During his tenure as Warriors head coach, Domingo led the domestic side to victory in the Twenty20 and ODI cups during the 2009-2010 season.

In 2010, the Warriors qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20), where they made it to the finals under the guidance of Domingo.

Domingo noted that he was excited to have more responsibility on his shoulders.

“Coaching at the highest level has always been a goal of mine and I’m looking forward to building on the foundation we have set for this format,” Domingo said.