WP pre-season programme on track

A new look ... a new captain ... and a positive new attitude ... These are some of the confidence-boosters that Western Province's cricketers are hoping will see them bounce back to (old) winning ways when the new season begins in a few weeks time.

Joint coach Vincent Barnes, whose first season in the coaching hotseat was dominated by a helter-skelter ride of shock defeats and off-field finger-pointing is convinced that he will enjoy a much more successful run in his second year at the helm.

"I never doubted my ability to coach Western Province - even when it became clear that the team was not playing to its true potential," he says. "This time I'm convinced we'll do much better."

Barnes, who is sharing the coaching duties with former captain Eric Simons, says a fitness training programme for the provincial players was launched at the end of May.

But, as he explains: "It has not been an easy thing to run." "At present, four of our players (Jacques Kallis, Gary Kirsten, Paul Adams and Roger Telemachus) are with the national team in Sri Lanka. In addition, Ashwell Prince, Ryan Joffe, Renier Munnik, Claude Henderson, Lloyd Ferreira and Charl Willoughby are playing league cricket in England, while Rashaad Magiet and Andrew Puttick are at the National Plascon Academy."

"The unavailability of so many players means that our fitness programme has been reduced to five participants."

Barnes acknowledges, however, that the problem - or rather, the honour - of having national call-ups at various levels is something Western Province will have to live with.

Contrary to previous years, Western Province will not play a series of matches in Zimbabwe as part of their pre-season preparations.

"Instead, says Barnes,"we will be touring the Northern Cape [Kimberley] and Gauteng from 17-28 September."

In addition to two one-day matches against Griquas and a three-day match against Gauteng, Barnes and Simons will put the team through an extensive programme, revolving around long sessions in the nets, the honing of fielding skills and the building up of fitness levels.

One piece of bad news is that a proposed team-building camp has had to be postponed because it would have clashed with a tour by the South African A side - including Western Province players Prince, Willoughby and Graham Smith - to the West Indies.

"After the tour to the north, the next big test for the team is the MTN Challenge on Saturday, 1 October, against Boland in Hermanus," says Barnes. "The following week we will be preparing for our first Standard Bank match - on 6 October - against Northern Titans in Pretoria."