Time for new coach for Warriors team
ALTHOUGH he never meant to, Warriors coach Piet Botha seems to have turned the team into some kind of bad joke.
The Warriors team enjoyed success during the 2009-2010 season claiming both the MTN40 and Pro20 series trophies. This also made them eligible to play in the Champions League T20 tournament in which they were runner-ups. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
In the past I would not hastily climb onto the bandwagon calling for a coach to be let go/fired, as I believed that players too needed to be held accountable for their overall performance. However in this case I have one hand on that bandwagon trying to jump on.
Before the Warriors' encounter with the Chevrolet Knights in East London, the coach said that the Warriors were still in the running for the playoffs, provided they won all four of their upcoming matches. Unfortunately that campaign didn't go too far and might as well have fallen into the cracks, as that match ended in a draw.
Even funnier after that result Botha and his boys still felt that they had a "technical" chance of making the playoffs. One would think we would all have learnt a thing or two from Bafana Bafana about relying on technicalities for qualification – very often it will end in someone being left embarrassed.
What do you know? Their next match against the Cape Cobras at St George's Port Elizabeth, their home ground, their trump card turned out to be a joker.
It is quite obvious that the team took a serious knock after the departure of Russell Domingo as coach, and they were never able to recover and rebuild fully afterwards. Their first Momentum One-Day Cup match ended in a loss.
In the Ram Slam T20 tournament they've only managed to pull off three wins and a tie, leaving them still at the bottom of that log.
The good news though is that all is not lost, there is much room for improvement and I believe that can only be achieved by making some critical changes, starting with the replacement of the coach. Yes, it is not realistic to expect that a team will win every single one of their encounters, but it is fair to expect that it be on average a winning team.
That I would think is not too much to ask. As such I believe it should be back to the drawing board for the Warriors and hopefully Botha's farewell match against the Cape Cobras in Paarl today.
Hopefully he will be replaced by a more creative coach who is able to scout proper talent and at the same time utilise them accordingly.
It is a pity it won't be in front of the St George's crowd, and chanting of "Bye bye Piet, bye bye Piet, bye bye Piet, we'd love to see you again" would have been an ideal send-off.
Sikelelwa Nkayi, Port Elizabeth
