Smith felt he has not developed the "necessary confidence" to take over the role. © Getty

Graeme Smith has withdrawn his candidature for the post of Cricket South Africa's Director of Cricket citing he had not developed the "necessary confidence" to take over the role. The former captain had interviewed for the post last Friday (November 8), a week after applications of the position.

"I would have loved to have taken the role. However, despite my obvious desire to make a difference, during the long and, at times, frustrating process over the last ten weeks of discussions, I have not developed the necessary confidence that I would be given the level of freedom and support to initiate the required changes," Smith wrote in a post shared on Twitter.

Smith was widely considered the front-runner to the post in a list of candidates that included CSA's head of pathways Corrie van Zyl and former national selector Hussein Manack. Van Zyl's candidature, in particular, was looked at with a degree of scepticism after he was under investigation two weeks ago over the apparent mishandling of players' image rights at last year's Mzansi Super League.

Van Zyl held the post of Interim Director of Cricket post the sweeping structural changes in the board set in place following the World Cup. According to the revamped structure, Director of Cricket will be effectively responsible for all cricketing decisions within the system and will report to the Chief Executive of the board. Van Zyl, along with CEO Thabang Moroe, appointed the interim management team, selection panel for South Africa's just-concluded tour of India.

While Smith's application to serve as the full-time Director was viewed with renewed optimism as South Africa's cricket continues to be muddled by mismanagement, the soon-to-be-appointed CSA management will hope the former captain can be coerced into playing some part in the administration.

"My passion for our nation's cricketing fortunes remains steadfast and I give my heartfelt best wishes to whoever does take the role on. I will continue to support the teams and give my advice and guidance whenever I can," Smith said