Richard das Neves winning the Pitchvision Provincial Coach of the Year is more than just an accolade, it tells the story of someone who set a new standard for the way cricket should be played at a semi-pro level, writes Khalid Mohidin.
When Das Neves walked into the role as Easterns coach, he was determined to turn things around. He insisted on changing the culture, attitude and approach of his players in the way they conducted themselves in training, off the field and during matches.
When I spoke to some of the success stories which came out of the union since his arrival – Grant Thomson, Wesley Marshall – the same sentiments rung through – “Coach Dassie” changed the way they thought about the game. It wasn’t just about them and their individual success, it was about the prosperity of the team.
As a result of his work, he was honoured by Cricket South Africa with the Provincial Coach of the Year award.
“Winning the award is a big honour and a massive privilege for me as an individual. I think the beauty of being a coach is that you need to surround yourself with the right people who share the same vision and values that you do and the same principles that you do. And that is a major, major part of our success,” Das Neves humbly told Cricket Fanatics Magazine.
“I certainly couldn’t have done it without my support staff to Tumelo Bodibe and Zane Webster. They’ve been beyond phenomenal in their roles and in their support towards me and the vision we had for Easterns cricket.
“Along with that comes, obviously, the players. I don’t think we would have been able to achieve what we have without their buying into what we wanted to do and without their input into the performances that they’ve put in over the last 12 to 18 months, in gaining success. So, a big thank you to the players and my support staff. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Das Neves made an incredible impact since joining Easterns in 2017, he led his men to the CSA Provincial T20 Cup 2019/2020 title and joint winners of the CSA Provincial 3-day Cup 2019/2020. This was coupled with some of his star players getting picked up by franchises.
“One of the goals that I set out when I took over Easterns, was to put myself in a position to win an award like this because that would mean that we’ve reached our other immediate goals which were to bring back some silverware to Easterns and to produce players for the next level,” Das Neves continued.
“Ultimately that’s the main aim of coaches. We’re going to try and produce players for the next level and, hopefully, one day for the Proteas and, I do believe that some of the players that have come through our system will go all the way.”
Being the coach that he is, as expected, there is no time to rest on laurels. Das Neves is now setting out his plans for the next season.
“Moving forward, it’s now time to set some new goals and to build towards the future. We’ve obviously got a few new players coming in and a few guys that have moved up from our academy setup. So a bit of a new side that’s coming together now for the next year,” he added.
“I’m really excited to get together and try and build towards a sustainable sort of silverware production and the sustainable model that can leave Easterns in a good place on the cricket field for years to come. So that’s our goals looking forward to the new season whenever that might be post COVID-19.
“We’ve obviously been trying to do our thing from zoom sessions and keeping the guys ticking over we’ve got a few exciting things. If you follow social media you’ll see we’ve done like a “Master Chef” the last couple of weeks we’ve got another sort of Olympic Games which we’re calling the Rose Olympic Games.
“Whenever we are allowed to get going again, we’ll be up for it and ready to fire in some good performances and keep doing what we’ve been doing.”
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