South Africa star Faf du Plessis has backed new Titans coach Rob Walter to shine as Matthew Maynard’s replacement in the hot-seat at Supersport Park.
The Titans and the Cape Cobras kick off the domestic campaign with a Momentum Cup one-day clash at the Centurion ground tomorrow. The Cobras are the joint defending champions alongside the Highveld Lions.
Du Plessis will not be playing tomorrow as he is currently on Test duty with the Proteas in the United Arab Emirates, where they are preparing to play Pakistan.
But the 29-year-old Pretoria-born player is confident Walter will succeed in his first senior coaching position.
He told World Cricket Badger: “Rob has been the trainer of the national side for four years, and he has always wanted to do coaching. He applied for the job when Maynard got it, but this time round he’s got it.
“He will bring a huge amount of energy to the team. He’s worked with the national team and Gary Kirsten for a long time, so he will have picked up a lot of experience from that.
“I think he’s the right guy for the Titans, who are in a transition period having lost a lot of key players. Not only have we got some young players who need to step up, we have a young coach who is keen to do well.”
Walter, successful over 19 other applicants, took up his position with the Titans on July 1. His first assignment was the Champions League t20 in India recently, a competition in which the Titans reached the semi-finals.
And the coach believes competitive cricket prior to the domestic season starting will enable his players to hit the ground running on home soil.
He said: “The greatest benefit of going to the Champions League is that we played some seriously competitive cricket ahead of the start of the season, whereas the other guys haven’t. For me, that gives us a little bit of a head start.
“The competition that we played against and the quality of the players that we came up against gave us a good idea as to where our skills are right now in relation to where they need to be if we want to compete.”
The clash is a repeat of last season’s semi-final, which the Cobras won by three wickets. They were forced to share the trophy with the Lions after the final was rained off.
Their coach Paul Adams expects another good season: “We had a really good season last year, so we’ve kept the core of the team together and have brought in some of the younger players,” he added. “It’s the key of mixing youth and experience and trying to create an energy that yields a successful team.”
Related articles
- Faf du Plessis (bigstory.ap.org)
- CLt20 EXCLUSIVE: Chennai Super Kings opportunity provides mixed fortunes for Francois du Plessis (cricketbadger.com)
- Faf du Plessis eager to score more runs - Cricket News Update (blogs.bettor.com)
- CLT20: Chennai Super Kings - Tactical Analysis: MS Dhoni has the key to the treasure (playupblog.wordpress.com)
James Buttler
As the editor of World Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
He is also the presenter of the Cricket Badger Radio Show on Radio Yorkshire every Tuesday evening between 7-9pm UK time.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author, a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications and a complete cricket badger!
Latest posts by James Buttler (see all)
- #CWC15: South Africa geared up for tight Sri Lanka contest - March 16, 2015
- #UAE15: Bon voyage Derbyshire as Champions Yorkshire land in Abu Dhabi - March 13, 2015
- Sussex sign Mahela Jayawardene for NatWest T20 Blast - March 13, 2015
2 thoughts on “Faf du Plessis tips Rob Walter for Titans success”