Linda Zondi, South Africa’s new convener of selectors, should get the benefit of the doubt before judgement on his appointment is made.

I was quite surprised about Zondi’s appointment when it was announced last week. Ideally, we need someone with more cricket knowledge than him.

Ashwell Prince, who has those credentials, is a new member of the selection panel and the best guy on it, but how much say will he have in team selections?

We’ll have to wait and see how it goes. It’s hard to criticise Zondi, because the previous selection panel under Andrew Hudson did well.

As the new convener Zondi will need the confidence of the coach and the captain of the Proteas. That relationship is critical and will determine his success.

He must pay attention to what the coach and the captain wants and try and accommodate them as far as possible.

Errol Stewart is a good addition to the panel. He is intelligent and good to have there. He will add value.

Coming back to Zondi, everyone is entitled to an opportunity. We’ll have to see what comes out of it. Having said that, one thing Zondi shouldn’t do is get bullied into picking teams and bowing to political pressure, because that is the way things seem to be heading.

I was pleased to see Charl Langeveldt being appointed as the new bowling coach of the national team. He is a solid guy, works hard and has international experience as a player.

His biggest job will be to build up the confidence of the bowling attack and communicate with the senior players as to what needs to be done.

It’s a good thing that he has been part of the system for a while now and also went to the World Cup. He will already have a good relationship with the likes of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Being a nice guy and not trying to be dominant will also help his cause.

Just touching on England’s new coach Trevor Bayliss, it was a very surprising appointment for me. I can’t believe that England don’t have an English guy who can do the job.

Bayliss will have to get England to play with more aggression and move on from the old school way of doing things.

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