New coach for SWD Cricket

CRICKET NEWS - Six Gun Grill South Western Districts Cricket has officially confirmed the appointment of the experienced Piet Botha as head coach of the provincial team.

Botha (55), whose first class playing career stretched from 1987 to 2002, has played in 118 first class and 110 List A matches for the former Transvaal, Border and South Africa A.

Botha scored 4 982 first class runs with five centuries and 25 half centuries. He also bagged 217 wickets at first class level with a best bowling analysis of 6/33.

After his playing career, Botha moved into the coaching profession. He was first appointed Academy, and later High Performance coach at Border.

From 2006 to 2019, he was involved in various coaching positions at Eastern Province and the Warriors and most notably, he was the head coach of the Warriors from 2011 to 2014.

During his coaching career, Botha, who is a Cricket South Africa Level 4 qualified coach, was extensively involved at National level as the bowling coach and bowling consultant for the SA Academy and SA A team, where he played a pivotal role in the emerging of national players such as Glenton Stuurman, Dwaine Pretorius, Sisanda Magala and Anrich Nortjé.

Since 2021 he has been the director of cricket at Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch and he served as the bowling consultant of the Highveld Lions.

"We continuously strive to attract a highly qualified, skilled and experienced human resource component to achieve our vision in striving towards excellence at all levels. Promotion to Division 1 at the end of the coming season is still within our reach and we are confident Piet, with his support staff and the contracted squad, will deliver the desired results," said SWD CEO, Albertus Kennedy.

Botha said he was honoured to be named head coach of the Six Gun Grill SWD Cricket team.

“It was always one of my distant dreams and finally I can do it and I’m excited about the opportunity. One of my first jobs it to create a culture and team environment to help the team operate in a professional manner, second is to help the players grow individually in their own games and ultimately, reach their own goals. And lastly, it is to help SWD be elevated into the top tier of South African cricket.”

SWD Cricket president, Rudy Claassen, said the board had put a vote of confidence in Botha's abilities as a coach, with the aim to achieve the desired results. “We want to welcome him to the SWD Cricket family and trust that he will take SWD Cricket to new heights,” he said.

The other coaching staff:

Gurshwin Rabie (assistant coach), Shannon Musto (strength and conditioning coach) and Arishna Maghoo (physiotherapist).

Contracted players:

Herschel America, Blade Capell, Matthew Christensen, Jean du Plessis, Hanno Kotze, Sintu Majiza, André Malan, Onke Nyaku, Marcello Piedt, Jhedli van Briesies and Sean Whitehead.