Serame’s Warriors ready for division one challenge

Warriors women’s coach Nkululeko Serame says his ambition is to build a team capable of competing at the highest level, with promotion becoming a by-product.

The Warriors have broken through in the Hollywoodbets Pro Series, the professional domestic arm of women’s cricket.

They went unbeaten in the 50-over competition to secure promotion to division one, and finished third in the T20 competition after three wins from four games.

For Serame, speaking at the domestic season launch, the results reflected the habits and mindset he had established.

“When I interviewed for the job [with EP], I had just come back from the Bahamas,” Serame said.

“I was coaching that side.

“They asked me why do I want the job, and in that interview, I said I’m not coaching just for them to win division two.”

Serame was not interested in simply getting the EP women promoted, but wanted to build a squad capable of representing the province.

“So once I got the team to understand the way of thinking, making sure everybody understands their roles and then making sure people train according to that, we could move forward to the next step in the process,” he said.

Division one will bring a greater challenge, and Serame has approached strengthening his squad accordingly.

Eastern Province women's coach Nkululeko Serame talks to the media during the Cricket SA domestic season launch in Johannesburg (Lefty Shivambu)

He identified players to bolster the side and looked beyond their cricketing ability.

“I looked at what’s been happening, the trends, not just in women, even in men.

“And I said to myself, I’m going to need to get people who are overcomers,” Serame said.

“So with all the players that I recruited, I knew what we needed to bolster the side.

“Then I interviewed all of them on Skype, and I drove through, met their parents to understand what type of person they are and if they were the type of player we were looking for.”

While the Warriors will have to adapt to division one, Serame believes the fundamentals remain unchanged.

“I’ve said to the squad that cricket is about three objects — a ball, a bat and stumps,” he said.

“Whatever they name it, they can name it division one, division two, club, whatever. You still have to execute your basics for long periods of time.”

That simplicity will be important, but Serame believes the players are ready.

“I’m trying to keep the messages simple for them, and then to get everybody hitting the ball, the most relevant thing for bowling being which areas you need to bowl.

“We are quite calm, and we’ve got people who are excited and want to give a good account of themselves.”

After their unbeaten 50-over campaign and T20 showing, the Gqeberha-based side can now measure themselves against the best.

For Serame, the destination has always been bigger than division one.

Promotion is simply the next step towards the standards he wants his players to reach.