Yolandi van der Westhuizen appointed Boland coach

Cricket Boland has appointed Yolandi van der Westhuizen as the coach of Boland’s Senior Women and Under-19 sides, the board announced on Monday (October 25). She will be the first woman to coach the side in their history.



Van der Westhuizen represented South Africa in eight ODIs and 12 T20Is after making her debut against New Zealand in 2009. She has been a veteran player with the Boland side and has also worked as mini cricket coordinator at the union before the appointment as the coach.



Speaking after the appointment van der Westhuizen said “With a region such as ours, we should be competing with the best in the country. This will be my main task to plot the way forward in a coordinated fashion.”



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The 39-year-old also said that the immediate focus will be on taking the Boland region to the top six and to promote the game among women. She added that they will also be looking to create a pool of players that can compete at the highest level and go on to represent South Africa in international matches.



“Firstly, to promote the game amongst women and to focus on getting the senior team to compete in the top six in the short term,” van der Westhuizen added.



“Our long-term goals are to create a pipeline of players to sustain our growth and produce players of high quality to compete for places in the Protea team.”



Cricket Boland CEO James Fortuin applauded the appointment and said that it’s line with their commitment to grow the women’s game in the region and make it more popular among women.



The former wicketkeeper-batter has been working at the Boland union headquarters in Paarl during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has been overseeing the players attending training session at the indoor nets ahead of the season.