Royals Sports Group-owned franchise Paarl Royals on Wednesday announced the appointment of former New Zealand pacer Shane Bond as the new Head Coach for the 2024 season of South Africa’s T20 league – the SA20. Bond replaces former South African all-rounder JP Duminy in the position, with the latter currently serving the national team.
Shane Bond, a former New Zealand fast bowling prodigy, provides an amazing set of credentials as well as a strong desire to play the game. His stellar career as a player and coach for New Zealand’s national team and various T20 franchises has given him the reputation of developing the greatest players. His tactical brilliance, knowledge of the game, and ability to encourage and develop emerging talent have all been widely recognised in the cricketing community, and this has resulted in the Kiwi pacer assisting the Mumbai franchise in winning four IPL titles in nine seasons. He was recently hired as Assistant Coach and Fast Bowling Coach for the IPL by Paarl Royals’ sister franchise, Rajasthan Royals.
Royals’ Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, welcomed the 48-year-old for his debut season in the SA20, “Apart from being a fierce competitor during his playing days, Shane (Bond) has also excelled in his various coaching roles across teams and leagues, and we are delighted to have him lead the coaching team at Paarl Royals. The inaugural season provided us with a lot of learnings after our semi-final finish, and we believe that his experience, commitment and vision align well with our goals for the upcoming season.”
“It is a new challenge for me personally to be heading to the SA20, but what gives me the belief is the strong squad we have been able to assemble for the upcoming season,” said Shane Bond, the newly appointed Head Coach. We have so much experience and promise in our ranks, which excites me to join the club in January and work towards our goal of hoisting the trophy.”
As with previous Royals clubs, the coaching staff lead by Bond will be ably supported and guided by Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara, as well as the central statistics and analytics team throughout the season.
Paarl Royals would like to thank departing JP Duminy for his contribution to the organisation during the first season of the competition and wish him the best of luck in the future.
