Faf du Plessis has revealed that he welcomes the idea of the possible appointment of England bowling coach Ottis Gibson as the next Proteas head coach. 

The Proteas will return to South Africa on Wednesday, after a disappointing tour to England where Russell Domingo’s side failed to win across all formats against the hosts.

SA’s unsuccessful Champions Trophy saw them crash out of the group stages, which drew more attention to Domingo’s role as the Proteas coach. Ongoing speculation on whether Domingo would re-apply for the role was ended when the 42-year-old revealed he had in fact done so.

ALSO READ: Domingo has reapplied as SA coach

Once again there has been speculation surrounding the Proteas coaching job and this time England’s bowling coach has been tipped for the role. Reports broke on Friday linking the former West Indies coach to the Proteas position, and according to Sport24, Du Plessis is open to the idea.

‘I have asked the England team for their thoughts on Ottis, and they’ve given me positive feedback,’ Du Plessis told reporters after their 3-1 series defeat.

‘I believe [England’s] players are good judges and will be honest with their reflections on a guy [and whether] he’ll work as a head coach.

‘They’ve said some really good, positive things about him.

‘Personally, if he is going to be the guy, we have to get to learn about each other first.’

Du Plessis confirmed that he has held talks with CSA about who the next coach in line will be.

‘There were conversations,’ he said.

‘The first was “were we happy with Russell?”, and the guys said yes.

‘Then it was the panel’s decision to try and see if there was someone they could see who would possibly take the team forward.

‘I just gave my input, where I said I think Russell is doing a good job at the moment … but if there is someone who can challenge the team more, by all means, go and look who’s out there.

‘That decision will only be made, as far as I know, when it gets to the board.’

This was a difficult tour for Domingo, who had to fly home to be with his mother after a car accident which left her in a critical condition and the squad were later left shocked at the news of her passing.

Despite the tragic experience, Du Plessis said the uncertainty over Domingo’s future is not an excuse for bad results.

‘I can’t use that as an excuse. The coaching staff have been brilliant and they haven’t been sidetracked by what was going on.

‘If it ended for Russell like this then it’s a disappointing way to send him off with the players not performing.

‘He’s been a crucial part of what we’ve been doing for the last while and we didn’t play well.’

Dale Steyn’s absence has also affected the Proteas as well as having to deal with an unfit Vernon Philander, Kolpak departures and the absence of AB de Villiers who ruled himself out of Tests in New Zealand and England.

The Proteas Test skipper commented on De Villiers absence from the Test side and was accepting of the possibility of life without him.

‘We all know how good AB is, and we missed him, but we’ve spent too much time talking about ‘when is AB going to come back?’,’ he explained.

‘The hope of him coming back is something I think we need to move past… If AB comes back it’s a huge bonus… but I don’t expect it.’

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