Mickey Arthur was made Ray Jennings’ successor in May 2005, where he led South Africa to their victory in Australia last year, and also guided them to win their first series for over 40 years in England 2008.

Now after his years of service Arthur is giving up his position as the South African Coach. Rumours have suggested that the breakdown was due to the working relationship between Arthur and Captain Graeme Smith.  In the mean time Corrie van Zyl is said to be temporarily covering the position just four days before the Proteas are to depart to take place in a two-test tour of India. A media conference will be held at 7.00 GMT in East London on Wednesday to announce Arthur stepping down.

Over his career Arthur has been criticised regarding his coaching methods, especially his defensive approach to the four test home series against England, where they failed twice to beat the team, despite his many successes throughout his 4 years as coach.

Overall though, Arthur seems to be taking it quite well, stating: "All good things must come to an end and now is the time for someone else to take over”. The timing seems to be unfortunate due to the exciting tour of India in the coming months, meaning that the temporary coach, (Van Zyl) has only two weeks to prepare for the first test against the world’s top ranked Indian team.

"I am very proud of what the Proteas have achieved while I was coach, especially being ranked number one in both forms of the game in the last 12 months and winning series in England and Australia."