June 15, 2022 media 0

‘Excited, nervous and have all these emotions popping up’- JP Duminy on Boland coaching gig

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JP Duminy, the former South African middle-order batter, has been appointed head coach of provincial side Boland on a two-year deal. This is Duminy’s first role as head coach after previously serving as batting consultant to the Lions franchise and, briefly, for the national men’s team, at the T20 World Cup.

Duminy, who retired after the 2019 World Cup, played 46 Tests, 199 ODIs and 81 T20Is for South Africa. He cannot wait to begin in his new role. “I’m very excited, nervous and have all these emotions popping up. It’s a great opportunity to get into the coaching space after playing,” Duminy told ESPNcricinfo. “Boland is close to my heart. It has been down the road for many years and, playing for the Cobras [in the franchise system], we spent a lot of time down in Boland.”

Having grown up in Cape Town, Duminy spent his entire playing career in the Western Cape and has both an understanding of the cricketing landscape in this area and a good rapport with many of the players, which was one of the reasons Boland appointed him. “One of his biggest strengths is man-management. People like him,” James Fortuin, CEO of Boland Cricket told ESPNcricinfo. “He has a huge amount of experience and brings a lot to the role.”

Without applying too much pressure on Duminy, Fortuin hoped the team could build on a strong first season, in which they won the T20 competition, finished seventh in the one-day cup and fifth in the first-class competition to be placed third on the combined results chart. Having only been elevated to the top tier last summer, at the dissolution of the franchise system, Boland’s results were “better than expected,” according to Fortuin and they’ve put the systems in place to build on that.

Former coach Adrian Birrell, who Duminy succeeds, ensured “that we signed some big players like the Malan brothers (Pieter and Janneman,)” Fortuin said. Boland also have Kyle Abbott on their books. The fast bowler joined the province thanks to Birrell who also coached at Hampshire, where Abbott was on a Kolpak deal. Under Birrell, the Boland team, under their Paarl Rocks banner, also won the 2019 Mzansi Super League, an event which showcased the cricketing culture of Boland with sold-out matches at their 10,000 seater stadium. It’s that community that Duminy wants the team to play for during his tenure.

“The people in Boland mean a lot to me and hopefully this is an opportunity for us to get out into the community and get the team closer to the community once again and represent the people,” he said. “I want to be a big part of that and get the players to understand what it means to represent the community. That’s a big part of Boland and it extends far and wide beyond Paarl. That’s a big thing for me.”

Duminy joins Robin Peterson at the Warriors and Imran Khan at the Dolphins as former international players coaching in the top division.

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