Off-field shenanigans did Toyana no favours
There has been a lot of talk recently around Gauteng cricket of revolutionising the game, but so far their only notable action has been to strip the most successful black African coach in franchise cricket of his duties, making him the fall guy for a poor season by the Highveld Lions.
Geoff Toyana was the first black African head coach of a franchise when he was appointed in 2012 and he steered the Lions to four trophies in the next four seasons. There have been lean pickings since then, but there have certainly been extenuating circumstances – Toyana has had to practically rebuild a whole team due to the match-fixing scandal and the retirement of several senior players.
Sure, Toyana will still be employed by the Gauteng Cricket Board as high performance coach, but there is little doubt that this is a demotion and a slap in the face for someone who has been at the forefront of transformation at franchise level.
The last season was particularly disappointing for the Lions – they finished last in the Sunfoil Series and fifth in both the Momentum One-Day Cup and RamSlam T20 Challenge – but when board members come into the changeroom mid-season to lambaste the players with threats that eight of them would lose their contracts, it’s hardly conducive to inspirational performances.
Toyana will be the first to admit that he was probably not at his best as coach either, but again, a more sensitive administration would have understood the reasons why. It could not have been easy for the Soweto Cricket Club product to start the summer as the favourite to be the new Proteas coach and then watch it all unravel.
Add to that massive disappointment the family bereavements he also had to deal with, and it was clear Toyana was a man under severe pressure during the past dometic season.
But the 44-year-old still had an additional year to run on his contract and surely the right thing to do, especially if one is serious about transformation and not just political powerplays, would have been to wipe the slate clean on the last season and allow Toyana to finish his term.
Based on results, a less kneejerk decision could then be taken.
Especially since this is a man who has added so much to the reputation of Gauteng cricket. Let’s not forget that before he became Highveld Lions coach, the franchise had won just one paltry trophy in eight seasons. Under Toyana’s watch, six new Test cricketers, ranging from Quinton de Kock to Stephen Cook, as well as six other limited-overs internationals were produced for the Proteas.
The talk in the Wanderers corridors is that Enoch Nkwe is in line to replace Toyana, which would make sense (at the right time) because the 35-year-old is intimately linked with Gauteng cricket.
Currently coaching in the Netherlands, Nkwe played for the franchise for seven seasons before coaching the semi-pro provincial side.
But there is also talk that the Gauteng Cricket Board have got themselves into a tangle that has led to them axing Toyana. So confident were they that Toyana would be in the Proteas coaching set-up that they allegedly bought Nkwe out of his contract with Haarlemsche Cricket Club and the union now cannot afford to be paying the salaries of two head coaches at the same time.
Perhaps if the board were not so busy with putting out the regular fires that spring up from all the infighting and politicking – if it were all about the transformation needs of the game that would be fine, but the impression is that most of it is all about the personal benefit of the egos involved – then they would be more able to keep their eye on the ball and ensure the franchise is excelling where it really matters – out on the field.