CSA rope in Neil McKenzie as South Africa’s high performance batting coach

Johannesburg: Former batsman Neil McKenzie has been roped in as South Africa’s high performance batting lead coach, the country’s cricket board (CSA) announced on Thursday. The 44-year-old McKenzie, who had stepped down from his position as Bangladesh’s batting coach last month, is one of the seven appointees announced by Cricket South Africa as part of its High-Performance management team which will work in alignment with the national men’s and women’s coaching staff. Vincent Barnes has been roped in as high performance manager and bowling lead coach while former assistant coach Malibongwe Maketa was appointed as the South Africa A and National Academy lead coach. Shukri Conrad was appointed as South Africa Under-19 team coach and Edward Khoza was named the acting head of cricket pathways. Dinesha Devnarain was roped in as the under-19 women’s and women’s National Academy head coach. Dr Shuaib Manjra was named as Chief Medical Officer. “The goal is to make sure that South African cricket is strong. We’ve got a really powerful group of cricketers coming through that can only strengthen the national side and can challenge players in the national team,” CSA Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith said in a release. “I feel that Malibongwe and the other High-Performance coaches can provide that and also develop the game,” Smith added.