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Cape Town - Recently-retired Cape Cobras batsman Andrew Puttick is eager to share his expertise in a coaching capacity.
Puttick, who was an institution as opener of the Cape Cobras from 2000 to 2018, says it’s concerning that there have not been enough talented players coming through at domestic level of late.
“The average age of cricketers in franchise teams has dropped tremendously. There are many ex-cricketers lost to the system through Kolpak or other reasons,” Puttick remarked.
“We have not produced enough quality cricketers of late (and) I would like to be involved to make cricketers (in the Western Province region) more street-smart and speed up their learning.”
Even a Hollywood script writer could not have produced a better finale than the reality show which involved Puttick.
He struck a brilliant 116 in his final first-class game for the Cape Cobras.
“Putters”, as he is affectionately known, received several standing ovations at the end-of-the-season prize-giving where Nabeal Dien, chief executive officer of the Cape Cobras, referred to him as a legend.
He was also the recipient of a collage of photos from his illustrious career and was voted the Spirited Cricketer of the Season.
Dien referred to the fact that Puttick would not be lost to the Cape Cobras in the future and that he might pass on his skills to others.
Probed about this, Puttick said there has been preliminary talks and nothing finalised yet.
But the former player, who averaged 40.27 in first-class cricket with 27 centuries and struck 10 956 first-class and 5 288 List A runs, said his role, if it materialised, would be to do group work as a batting consultant as well as one-on-ones if required.
And he would not want to limit that to the Cape Cobras. He would also be available for Western Province and the junior teams of the region.
The work that he will do, will not be exclusively technical. He also wants to help cricketers with a road map to a century and on how to deal with pressure. The mental side of things will be part of his legacy if he and the Cape Cobras agree terms.
If the businessman and father can find enough time to complement the work of the current group of coaches like Ashwell Prince, Faiek Davids, Salieg Nackerdien, Paul Adams and Siya Sibiya, it could strengthen the pipeline structures of the Western Province region considerably.
