Former Proteas Coach Justin Ontong Excited with New Crop Coming Through the Ranks

Former Proteas Justin Ontong in June 2023 was announced as the Boland Head Coach.

This saw him move from his position as Proteas fielding coach to the head coach role in the Boland region.

"Life has a funny way of working out, it has done a full circle for me. This [Boland] is where I started and I currently live here. I enjoyed my time with the Proteas, obviously when the new coaches were announced they get their own coaching staff,” he told SportsBoom.com.

“Yes, this opportunity to coach Boland came and couldn't refuse. My aspirations were to become a head coach, when I did the job for the Proteas I was the fielding coach. I know nowadays there is a big demand for specialist coaches within franchise cricket and T20 cricket around the world."

"I personally wanted to challenge myself as a head coach and Boland is a nice challenge and foresee Boland growing as a franchise. Even with the Boland T10 that is currently underway we are looking for talent. The move here was very easy, I live here and my kids go to school around here. They are young and it gives me the opportunity to spend time at home and see them grow. In the end, it was easy decision to make."

Boland 2023/24 season

"The previous season wasn't great for us, we obviously set ourselves high standards. We had our chances, if I take the 4 day competition we had opportunities there to win games. The one day cup wasn't great as well. Overall if you want to play professional sport you need to compete, win trophies and play with the best.”

"We are going to work hard to achieve the goals we set ourselves and the standard we set is pretty high. We definitely want to make sure this season we up our game and compete across all competitions we play."

"The players who left us are the likes of Hardus Viljoen, Janneman Malan who is going back to North West, Stiaan van Zyl has retired and Christiaan Jonker also retiring. We got new guys in like Blake Capelle an exciting batter, Gavin Kaplan promising batter from the Cape, Grant Roloefsen a well-known name in the domestic circuit, Aya Gqamane who brings in a lot of experience in the squad and Keith Dudgeon who performed really well for his domestic side previous season.”

“We got some new energy, youngsters and if you look at our squad from last year, people would've said our squad was old and ageing and now there are some youngsters in. I'm excited to see what they bring. It’s up to me that the players are consistent in their performances."

State of Domestic Cricket

"I think its improving every year, everything takes time. There was a lot of criticism when we moved away from the franchise system and back to the provincial system. There are a lot more players getting opportunities, which is definitely what you want to see.”

“By these players playing, they gain confidence and we will see some exciting brand of cricket being played. The standard will improve, just need to be patient with it. There are a lot more professional cricketers now than before."

Bridging the gap between domestic and international cricket

"I know CSA are trying very hard, a couple weeks ago I came from a coaches conference where we were addressed by some of the national coaches such as Rob Walter. He mentioned what he expects from the Proteas players and the brand of cricket he wants to play. There is close communication with the provincial coaches to ensure the players are ready to make the next step and he knows exactly what is expected from him.”

“So yes, there is communication from the national coaches what they expect from us to ensure we also don't drop our standards and maintain a high standard. This is done by creating a high performance environment within our structures which will assist the players transition into the national setup easier."

"There gap is still big but we do have a better understanding of the background of the players. We know how to go about things, which will help us produce a player about 80-90% where he should be and the other 10% the national coaches can add. Cricket is a game where you never satisfied and always find areas where you can improve. I love what Rob Walter said, he is obsessed to get better over time and that's the message we will try and drive to the players is to be obsessed to get better all the time."