AS World Cup-winning cricket coach Gary Kirsten attempts to guide South Africa to the top of the world Test and one-day rankings, his equally famous elder brother Peter is at loggerheads with Border cricket officials whom he claims are languishing in a “trough of mediocrity”.

The elder Kirsten, 56, who is still considered one of South Africa’s most prolific batsmen, this week launched a scathing attack on Border Cricket to which he claims he has repeatedly offered his coaching services.

“I always regarded Border Cricket as sustainable, but they are in a trough of mediocrity and don’t seem to want to grasp coaches available in the area who could be involved in their betterment. They know I’m available,” said Kirsten, who has spent the last few years as a “cricket coach consultant” in Kenya, Zambia and Sierra Leone.

“Don’t they realise the goodwill they could muster by including people who were involved in the halcyon days of the 1990s and up to 2004?”

In the 1990s, following a successful stint with Western Province, Kirsten moved back to East London and helped raise the profile of Border Cricket Union by captaining the side. He now feels he has “unfinished business” in East London.

However, an indignant Border Cricket chief executive Themba Lupuwama said if the cricket legend was interested in a more permanent position he was free to apply for vacancies when they became available. Furthermore, he said, Kirsten had been called in to help players with “his special skills” at Buffalo Park and Border Cricket’s other coaching programmes.

“This question (on Kirsten’s lack of involvement in the provincial set-up) is not proper. I don’t see why I should answer that question specifically about him because there are a lot of people looking for positions and they can all apply, but we follow normal recruitment channels. We are a professional company.”

Asked what he thought of Kirsten’s statement that Border Cricket had sunk into mediocrity, Lupuwama said: “That is his opinion and he is entitled to it.”

Kirsten is currently coaching schoolboys at his alma mater Selborne Primary, as well as other cricket-mad youngsters in East London at the Peter Kirsten Cricket Academy.

In respect of his brother landing the country’s top coaching post following his widely acclaimed stint coaching India, he said he was not “jealous at all” of the sibling with whom he used to play cricket in the backyard of their home in Newlands, Cape Town.

 “I’m envious but not jealous. It’s a huge job and he’s got all our (family) support. The dynamics in South Africa are very different to India. Also there’s a lot of conflict at executive level, but he has a calm temperament and already has the respect of the players. He has played 100 Tests for South Africa and more than 200 one-day internationals so he comes with enormous credentials plus a great track record from India.”

Peter Kirsten’s rise to fame began in the 1970s and 80s when he represented South Africa in the rebel tours. He began playing Test cricket at 36 and represented the Proteas in 12 Tests, but said he was “disappointed” he had been “born too early”. “To start your international cricket at 36 is not the right time. People like Gary, (Jacques) Kallis, (Herschelle) Gibbs, Jonty (Rhodes) and Hansie (Cronje) were born at the right time.”

(This article was originally published in the print edition of Weekend Post on Saturday, July 16, 2011.)