Puttick keen to transfer skills to next generation

“The average age of cricketers in franchise teams has dropped tremendously,” remarked the recently retired Cape Cobras batting icon Andrew Puttick.

“There are many ex-cricketers lost to the system through Kolpak or other reasons. We have not produced enough quality cricketers of late. I would like to be involved to make cricketers (in the Western Province region) more street-smart and speed up their learning,” said Puttick, an institution as opener of the Cape Cobras from 2000 to 2018.

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 World Sports Betting 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.

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Dien referred to the fact that Puttick would not be lost to the World Sports Betting 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.

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But the former player, who averaged 40.27 in first-class cricket with 27 centuries and struck 10 956 first-class and 5288 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 World Sport Betting Cape Cobras. He would also be available for Western Province, and the U17 and U17 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 excellent 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.