Former Ireland coach Graham Ford will take up a new role as head coach of the Pretoria Capitals in the inaugural SAT20 league which is set to take place this winter.
Ford surprised many by stepping down last November after four years at the helm and with one year remaining on his contract. He cited the unique challenges of coaching in Ireland as opposed to other full member nations as the reasons behind his departure.
The South African coach has not formally been involved in professional cricket since leaving the Irish job. He was linked to the vacant England red ball job earlier this year but instead spent the summer coaching at grassroots level with YMCA Cricket Club in Sandymount.
South Africa’s new T20 franchise competition runs from January-February 2023 and Ford’s involvement is not expected to affect his position with YMCA. Ford will be assisted on his coaching staff by legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis. The Capitals, owned by the Indian Premier League’s Delhi Capitals, have already signed South African international Anrich Nortje and the uncapped Miguel Pretorius.
All six sides in the competition have already publicly announced some signings, mainly local South African players, while an auction to fill out the 17-man squads will take place on September 19th.
Ford is the second Irish link to the new tournament with batter Harry Tector already reported to have signed up. It remains unclear as of yet which team Tector - who is currently on Caribbean Premier League duty with the Barbados Royals - will represent.
A number of other Irish players are also registered in the auction. Likely among them is Josh Little who impressed in the recent edition of the Hundred, taking 13 wickets in just five games for the Manchester Originals, including the best figures in the history of the tournament of 5-13. George Dockrell is another who could well have his name in the hat given his recent form as a late-innings power hitter.
However, in the recently announced Future Tours Programme that outlines a rough international schedule from 2023-2027, Ireland are due to tour Zimbabwe in January. This would clash with both the SAT20 and UAE-based International League T20 - for which Ireland opener Paul Stirling is signed up - which both run from January to February 2023.
Ireland were due to travel to Zimbabwe earlier this year only for the trip to be cancelled.
Though the Zimbabwe tour is yet to be confirmed, any Ireland fixtures during this window would significantly impact the availability of Tector and likely limit the chances of other Irish players being signed in the SAT20 auction with franchises likely to covet players who can be signed for the duration of the tournament.
