Former pacer Eric Simons has been announced as the bowling coach of South Africa for the upcoming five-match ODI series against Australia and for the Men’s ODI World Cup, scheduled to be held in India.
The development was confirmed by South Africa’s white-ball coach Rob Walter after the hosts’ suffered a five-wicket defeat in the third T20I to Australia, leading to a 3-0 series loss.
Earlier, South Africa had appointed Rory Kleinveldt to the role in an interim post and roped in Quinton Friend in the same position for the T20I series in Durban.
“Eric has been joining us throughout the winter and will be with us for the ODI series and World Cup,” said Walter to reporters.
Simons, 61, represented South Africa in 23 ODIs and was the head coach of the team from 2002 to 2004.
Later, Simons was roped in as the bowling consultant of Team India which had won the 2011 Men’s ODI World Cup on home soil. Meanwhile, Simons has been a bowling consultant for the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a long time and served in the coaching staff of the Super Kings franchises in various T20 leagues.
South Africa will open their 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup campaign against 1996 champions Sri Lanka at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on October 7.