Lolwethu Dekeza has promised to shape the Border Cricket women’s team into a formidable force and relishes the challenge of mentoring the Eastern Cape Iinyathi senior team and U19 girls.
It is a new role for him in his coaching career.
His CV includes coaching at junior boys level for Border teams, most recently guiding the Eastern Cape Iinyathi U16 team to a Division 2 runners-up finish, producing the tournament’s leading run scorer, and at school level developing young cricketers at Dale College, Hudson Park Primary and Selborne Primary.
He has a CSA Level 3 Coaching qualification, Diploma in Sports Management and years of coaching experience.
When he received the offer to mentor the two women’s teams, it took him by surprise.
“It caught me off-guard,” he said.
The euphoric phase is over and the groundwork has started in attempting to get both Iinyathi sides to an elite level.
The Iinyathi senior women’s side finished among the bottom-ranked teams in Division 2 last season.
Dekeza said his first year in the job would be to build a structure and culture within the team.
He is a believer that once the team has its identity, the results will not be hard to achieve.
His overall plan is to build a pool of players for the seniors.
That is where he said also being head coach of the U19s would come in handy.
Part of his plan is to have combined training sessions every week between the U19s and the senior team.
This would allow the teams to have similar playing philosophies and have personnel continuity in the system.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day. We have looked at our current team for seniors and it’s made up of some players from the U19s,” Dekeza said.
“Being the coach for both sides will allow us to plan according to which players we have for which position.
“We will be able to create depth because we will train the players together so that they are in sync with what we want.”
He said they were building relationships with nearby colleges and universities to bolster the talent.
Dekeza said it would help succession should they lose players to other provincial teams.
Over the past few years, top cricketing women’s talent from the region has been snatched up by the big franchises, as Border still struggles for sponsorships and other resources, including long-term contracts for its players.
Previously, coaches have voiced concerns about the issues, as it hinders momentum in their plans for their tenures.
Dekeza, who is from Zinyoka Location in Qonce, hopes the issues can be resolved sooner.
“Seventy percent of the issues for the ladies team are off-the-field issues, the other 30% are things that we can work on as coaches.
“Players in the past years have left the side to look for greener pastures.
“If we are to build a winning team, we have to retain the players and have the same squad for two or three seasons playing together,” he said.
Dekeza said they would have some practice games in September before the start of the season.
“We had fitness sessions at the start of August, and we are building our preseason nicely, and by October we should be ready to go,” he said.
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