Royals Sports Group announced on Thursday (September 15) that they have roped in the former South Africa batter JP Duminy as the head coach of the Paarl Royals franchise for Cricket South Africa’s upcoming SA20.
Apart from Duminy, Royals Sports Group also revealed their coaching staff for the new franchise: Richard Das Neves will join the Paarl Royals as the spin bowling coach and strategy coach, Mandla Mashimbyi as fast bowling coach, Mark Charlton as batting coach, Lisa Keightley as a tactical performance coach, and Russel Aspeling as team catalyst.
Apart from them, AT Rajamani Prabhu has been appointed as Paarl Royals strength and conditioning coach for the SA20, which will be held next year during the January-February window.
Jos Buttler, David Miller, Obed McCoy, and Corbyn Bosch have already been signed up by Paarl Royals for SA20.
Speaking about his appointment, Duminy said in a press statement: “I have always had a very close connection with Paarl, having played plenty of my cricket at Boland Park, and hence it’s an honor for me to have been appointed as the Head Coach of the Paarl Royals.”
He added, “It is an exciting time for everyone associated with South African cricket and I’m really looking forward to working with some exceptional international and local players.”
Meanwhile, Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara said: “Paarl Royals is a team that is entrenched with the objective of providing the right opportunities to the people in South Africa, whether that is for the talented cricket-playing youth or for those who want to give back to the game through coaching. Having started off by securing a strong core of players in Jos, David, Obed, and Corbin, we are now delighted to have recruited some of the sharpest minds in South African cricket.”
He added, “JP, Mark, Richard, Mandla, Russel, and Lisa have all been very successful in their respective roles across teams and also understand the local ecosystem well. We believe that utilizing key learnings from within the IPL will only help us replicate the Royals’ brand of entertaining and passionate cricket in South Africa and will make everyone associated with Paarl extremely happy and proud as we kick off this new journey.”
Notably, Duminy retired from the game in 2019, the same year he won the CPL Trophy with the Barbados Royals. The former batter worked as a strategic consultant to the South African men’s team in 2021 and as a batting consultant to the domestic Lions.
Duminy also worked as the head coach of Paarl-based provincial side Boland and the Paarl Rocks in domestic cricket.
(With ANI Inputs)
