Western Province Blitz and Proteas all-rounder, George Linde, is happy to be back on the park after a long period sitting on the sidelines in the Proteas camp, writes Ongama Gcwabe.

The CSA T20 Challenge got underway on Monday in Gqeberha with a fixture between two Western Cape teams, the Rocks & Blitz.

The two teams were looking to start the tournament on a high with a victory but it wasn’t to be for the Paarl-based Rocks as they suffered a crushing victory at the hands of some notable performances from Blitz players.

One of those standout players was spinning-all-rounder George Linde who contributed with both ball and bat to see the Blitz chase a low total with 3 overs to spare. Linde had not played any cricket since the beginning of the season as he was in the Proteas setup with 12th man duties for the majority of the summer.

“I’m just happy to be playing cricket again,” Linde told Cricket Fanatics Magazine in an exclusive interview.

“It’s been a tough few months sitting on the sidelines.”

Having stayed at home to get married, Linde missed the tour to New Zealand in which the Proteas will take on The Blackcaps in a two-match Test series starting on 17th February.

But with the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, Linde made himself available for the domestic T20 competition like the rest of Proteas white-ball cricketers.

More than anything, Linde wanted to get back on the park again and sharpen his skills in high-intensity match situations.

“I hadn’t played a game for WP since the beginning of the season so I felt like it was the start of something fresh today,” continued Linde.

“I just went out there to enjoy myself and perform to the best of my ability so I was very happy that I was able to contribute a good performance for my team

“All I’m focused on right now is working on my own game and doing my best for WP in this T20 Challenge and whatever comes after that will happen,” he concluded.

Linde has started the competition with an impressive all-round performance and will be looking to build on that.

Western Province Blitz’ next fixture will be against the GBets Warriors on Wednesday 9th February at 14:30 (SAST) at St George’s Park Cricket Stadium.

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