Plagued by injury and form problems to some of its important players, South Africa lost back-to-back Test series to the invincible Aussies in Australia and South Africa 3-0 and 2-1 respectively in 2001-02.
Ford, who was hailed as a true successor of Woolmer, suddenly faced criticism from all quarters with the late Percy Sonn, then the president of the UCB, blaming him squarely for the humiliation at the hands of the Australians. He was expectedly fired.
Thus ended Ford's three-year tenure with the South African side, although he achieved many laurels for his country during the period.
It's a measure of his genius as a coach, besides the collective cricketing talents of the Proteas, that South Africa won 9 of the 11 Test series and 63 per cent of their One-Day Internationals under him.
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