Mickey Arthur's resignation as Proteas coach might have come as a bit of a surprise to most of us, but as he himself has stated, perhaps now is a good time to get some new blood in the setup.

Personally, I think the players we have been selecting over the last year have been just about the best available, so unfortunately for Arthur, he was the most likely to be pushed out.

There have been several suggestions that the relationship between Arthur and long-time captain Graeme Smith had soured to such an extent that working together has become impossible, although at this point it is more media conjecture than fact.

Captain or coach?

With Arthur walking the plank and Smith kept in charge, the question has been asked: Is the captain of the team now bigger (no pun intended) than the coach?

The answer ? fortunately or unfortunately ? is an unequivocal yes. Especially so if you consider Arthur was appointed largely because of the way in which he got along with Graeme Smith.

If you do not agree with me, ask yourself this: If there were a spat between Gary Kirsten and India captain MS Dhoni, who would be the first to get the axe? Similarly, if Ricky Ponting and Australia coach Tim Nielsen fell out, does anyone really think 'Punter' would be the one to go?

Chelsea Football Club for instance has had five different coaches in the last two-and-a-half years, yet John Terry has retained the captaincy through it all.

Get Allan Donald involved

Whether CSA accepting Arthur's resignation is a bad move or not, we will probably never know, but if it leads to the subsequent dismissal of Vincent Barnes as bowling coach then it is definitely a plus moving forward.

With all respect to Barnes, the Proteas batsmen have carried the team recently and, harsh or not, he is the one to blame.

That being said, Barnes's sacking will only be a good move if the right replacement is appointed.

In my opinion, there is only one man for job ? former Proteas great Allan Donald.

Seeing Donald sitting in the England change room next to Kevin Pietersen in his role as interim bowling coach during 2008, many a South African must have thought that yet another home grown hero had left these shores for good.

Thankfully for us, sanity has prevailed and Donald is back in the country of his birth.

Having arguably this country's greatest ever bowler involved closely with speedsters Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel can only be a good thing, but just imagine how much of an influence he can have on the current 'golden boy' of South African cricket, Wayne Parnell.

Donald seems to have become something of an expert in the biomechanics of fast bowling since hanging up his boots as well.

Anyone who listened to him commentate during the recent South Africa/England series would have heard him discuss with England legend Geoff Boycott slight technical issues in Parnell's action, for example. The man quite obviously knows what he is talking about.

Would Donald be willing to give up his cushy job at SuperSport? That is a different question altogether, but there is no doubt that he is the ideal man for the job.