Jeremy Snape has not looked back since retiring from first-class cricket in 2008.

The former Leicestershire captain's business, The Sporting Edge, is progressing nicely, suggesting that the role of the sports psychologist will only continue to develop in a wide range of areas.

Not surprisingly, Snape's off-field skills have been well utilised in cricket as Sporting Edge has carried out work for the ICC in Canada, Kenya, Scotland, Ireland, Holland and Afghanistan.

Business has grown quickly and Snape and his colleagues have been involved with the Premier League as well as the world of commerce.

For now, though, Snape, below, has something else very significant to focus on. As South Africa's performance coach, he is building up for a series of international clashes with England.

That begins in the Twenty20 format today with one-day and Test matches to follow during an intense spell for both countries' cricketers.

Though South Africa, captained by Graeme Smith, sit at the top of the world Test rankings, England will find a side anxious to get back into action after a disappointing showing as hosts of the ICC Champions Trophy, when they failed to progress from the group stages.

"The Proteas players are very proud of what they represent in the sports-mad country of South Africa so obviously they have been wounded to miss out on a major international trophy in their own country," said Snape.

They do not lack quality in any format of the game, either, with a number of players who will be very familiar to England supporters.

"I think that Graeme Smith is a great leader and he will be keen to stamp his authority on the series pretty early on," Snape added. "In the bowling department Wayne Parnell and Ruloef Van der Merwe seem to be breaking through nicely and, with the bat, JP Duminy and AB DeVilliers are great to watch."

England have struggled in one-day cricket in recent years, lacking consistency. But they will enter the four-game Test series with a huge amount of confidence after defeating Australia during the summer.

South Africa, though, came out on top 2-1 when the sides met in England in 2008 so a high-quality series could well be in the offing.

The former County star explained: "The Proteas realise that they have an opportunity to create a special era as the world's best cricket team. I think they are taking that seriously and will be ready for a tough battle with the English team to prove that point.

"With so many links between South Africa and England, the edge is bound to be the same as against the Aussies so it promises to be a great series."

Those links run deep in the England side with the squad including Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott, both of whom were raised in South Africa. That has been duly noted by the South Africans but Snape does not believe it will become a major issue.

"I am sure that having a few players of South African origin will add a bit of spice but definitely won't become a distraction," he said.

As mouth-watering as the winter schedule appears, however, Snape knows that the next couple of months is just another step forward for him in a position that has developed at a good pace.

"My role has become increasingly focussed on the South African cricket organisation as a whole since I started, aided by my experience working with corporate teams in the UK," he said. "I still wear the tracksuit and do some coaching and psychology work but my biggest impact will be developing this high-performance team culture further and putting some long-term systems in place to fuel the team's success.

"It's a great challenge for me and I am learning new things all the time. It's also very rewarding to work in such a good management team and with such a talented group of players.

"All of this added together means I will be supporting green and gold not red, white and blue this winter!"

The South African performance coach will be writing a diary as events between England and South Africa unfold at:

www.thesportingedge.co.uk.