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News South Africa

Western Province improving says Nackerdien

Salieg Nackerdien, the JAG Western Province amateur team's coach, believes that there is improvement in his side in all aspects of the game.

His office at Sahara Park Newlands is neatly organised with files and folders. Each player in the squad has a file that is updated after every practice.

“I believe that players must be goal orientated,” said the former Boland and Impalas left-hand batsman. “When they practise they should be thinking about what they want to achieve.”

Promising three-day start

JAG Western Province has made a promising start in the three-day Cricket South Africa Provincial Competition with two wins and two draws, one of which was a rain-affected fixture against KwaZulu-Natal Inland in Pietermaritzburg.

In the one-day competition, two wins have been balanced with two defeats, one by a single run against South Western Districts and another against North West , in which Nackerdien believes his team squandered a winning position.

“There are quite a few positives. We are coming along nicely in the three-day competition in particular, but there is also plenty of room for improvement,” Nackerdien said.

A tough challenge awaits the side in Kimberley this weekend, where JAG Western Province will be up against defending three-day champions Griqualand West.

Demanding season

Altogether it is a demanding season, with the amateur competition expanded to a 13-match programme, compared to the six fixtures in recent seasons, which were followed by a four-day final and one-day semi-finals and final.

The busy programme has already reaped one casualty, with all-rounder Esmund van Wyk unavailable for the second half of the season because he is returning to full-time employment as a teacher.

Van Wyk's loss has been compensated for by the return of talented batsman Dominic Telo after a stint in English country cricket.

Among the players who have shone this season are opening batsman Alistair Gray and Yaseen Vallie, who along with all-rounder Vernon Philander have hit centuries in the first-class competition, and leg-spinner Abdul-Aziz Temoor, who is among the competition's leading wicket-takers with 17 at an average of 25.47. Philander's two matches in the amateur side brought him 14 wickets at just 7.48 runs apiece.

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