The Sunfoil Dolphins’ 2015/16 domestic campaign gets underway next Sunday, 11 October with their Momentum One Day Cup clash against the VKB Knights in Pietermaritzburg and head coach Lance Klusener has earmarked his side’s fielding as an area of focus for the upcoming season.
As such Klusener has called on the services of former Western province player and fielding consultant to the Afghanistan national team Ryan Maron in the hope that he can take the Durban outfit’s fielding to the next level.
“Fielding is going to be a big focus for us this season,” confirmed Klusener.
“As such there is an emphasis on fielding this week and so we’ve got Ryan Maron from Cape Town with us for the week.
“Ryan started with us on Monday, he’ll be with us for a week and then we’ll look to top up with him as we go, especially throughout the first part of the season,” he added.
Maron, who also spent five years playing cricket in Holland before gaining invaluable coaching experience in England, has been head coach of the University of Cape Town for the past four years however it was his time within the Afghan setup that brought about his new affiliation to the Dolphins.
“Lance (Klusener) contacted me asked me to get involved after I think Jonty (Rhodes) gave him some feedback from the ICC T20 Qualifier,” said Maron. “I’m looking to work with professional cricketers more and more and so I’m very excited; this is something I’ve always dreamt of doing!”
“The players have responded really well, I was really impressed with the way they’ve worked and responded.
“I think they can definitely improve 20-30%, Lance is aware of that and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“We want to make the Dolphins the best fielding side in each competition they play in!”
While much of players training time is spent batting and bowling in the nets, Maron believes a similar emphasis on fielding is vital if sides are to compete for titles, something Klusener’s men aspire to do in 2015/16.
“You can win trophies or lose trophies from good or bad fielding; it’s the third dynamic of the game and I think it’s just as important as batting and bowling!
“The guys here at the Dolphins have the potential to become a very good fielding unit, we’ve just got to keep topping that up, working on the basics and making sure they’re always aware of the importance of fielding,” explained Maron.