Despite stumps being called early on the 2019/20 season the VKB Knights already have plans for the upcoming season.
The VKB Knights will go into the new season with a new look and an enormous amount of experience across the board from coaching staff to the players. Former Northern Cape Senior Provincial coach JP Triegaardt finds himself back in the Knights changing room under ICC Hall of Famer and head coach Allan Donald as the newly-appointed Knights assistant coach.
Triegaardt vacated his post at Northern Cape Cricket (NCC) earlier this year to take up his new post, leaving a void in Kimberley and resulting in NCC now searching for a new head coach. The team’s assistant coach, Deon Carolus, has taken over as head coach and will take the team to the end of the 2019/20 season.
“It is a great honour and achievement to be part of the VKB Knights for this upcoming season,” said Triegaardt, speaking to the DFA yesterday. “I am honoured to be working alongside Allan Donald. I look forward to tapping into his brain and find out what expertise he has to bring to the party. I also look forward to gaining as much experience and knowledge as I can from the SA Legend,” he added.
“I think the guys we kept have done well this past season and we are lucky to have kept the core of the team; with the new guys coming in, for example, a guy like Jonathan Vandiar who has an exceptional reputation in both white- and red-ball cricket to come and fill the gap left by Keegan Petersen will be something special to watch. The same goes to Matthew Kleinveldt. He brings a lot of stability in the top order and Jaques Snyman has also shown us how destructive he can be at the top of the order,” Triegaardt said.
The Knights secured a semi-final spot in last season’s limited-overs campaign and ended fourth in the 4-Day Franchise series before the premature end to the season and are looking to do better than that in the new season.
The addition of players Jonathan Vandiar, Mathew Kleinveldt, Jaques Snyman, Ferisco Adams, Alfred Mothoa, Migael Pretorius and youngster Duan Jansen should take them a long way towards that goal.
“In the bowling department I believe Alfred and Migael bring a lot of experience and consistency to the team, we have seen what they have done in the past with the Titans and Lions respectively, with Migael’s pace being a major addition to our arsenal and Ferisco Adams who is an exciting all-rounder – I am looking forward to seeing what he can do with both bat and ball.” added the Knights assistant coach.
“I think the team that Allan and myself put together is really good and competitive, but for now we just have to sit and wait until this pandemic is over.
“But if we can get the guys together post the pandemic just to see if everyone is mentally strong and prepared for the upcoming season then surely we will find ourselves ahead of the pack,” said Triegaardt.
