In category two, Western Province and Northerns were announced joint winners of the Provincial Academy and Personal Performance Plan.
Salieg Nackerdien, coach of the academy and interim coach of the Western Province semi-professional team, hailed the team work and the excellent support by Graham October (administrator) and Siya Sibiya (assistant coach) in propelling the Academy to the summit in their category of the CSA Incentive Scorecard.
“We as a leadership team brain-stormed, wrestled with concepts, and our robust planning helped to ensure that the team operated optimally.
“Both Siya and I had a personal performance plan, had a one-on-one with each player to discuss our goals for the season. We had a mid-term review and an end-of-season discussion.
“We played comfortably more than 30 games. In our match against the Western Province semi-professional team, we triumphed.
“In fact, our win/loss ratio was very impressive. We won between 80 and 85 percent of all our matches.
“This accolade means the world to the academy, to all the staff and to the players. I believe it is also significant because the foundations for the next step – to the WP semi-professional team – are sound.
“This team won four out of the five one-day games in the Western Province league.
“But this was about more than just winning. It was about strictly sticking to the criteria and to ensure that the team is a living and walking billboard of the quality of the academy program,” Nackerdien said.
“This is an award which belongs to the whole support staff and the team not to a single individual. It bodes well for the medium-term future of Western Province and indeed Cape Cobras’ cricket.”
Nabeal Dien, chief executive officer of the Cape Cobras, said he was proud of the advances made by Western Province in finishing fourth in category one behind Northerns, Gauteng and Free State.
Yet, winning the incentive scorecard in 2018 remains the ultimate goal. Western Province will assess the scorecard and take deliberate steps to improve under-performing categories.
“An idea that is not executed, is an illusion, so our practical implementation plans will be formulated soon and reviewed intermittently to lift our operational standards and achieve platinum status,” Dien said.