Ken Borland

The Highveld Lions have always said all they needed to challenge for the four-day domestic title was a more penetrative bowling attack and new coach Geoffrey Toyana is confident that his team now have the weaponry to win the Sunfoil Series this season.

“In the past our strength has been our batting and our problem was the bowling. But that’s now been solved because we’ve signed Hardus Viljoen and Imran Tahir, and there’s Chris Morris coming through as well,” Toyana said at the Wanderers on Monday.

“Hopefully they will all bowl well for us, plus there’s Garnett Kruger back with us as well. But the biggest thing is for us to play good, consistent cricket in all formats. In the past, we’ve been good in one format but poor in the others.”

Alviro Petersen, the Lions captain, shared his coach’s enthusiasm, saying the Gauteng/North-West franchise would go into the competition with a new-look attack.

“The whole format of our attack has changed, we now have three strike bowlers and one holding bowler, plus Zander de Bruyn can do a holding job for us as well. The bowling was our problem area, you have to take wickets to win four-day matches. We’ve done well with our batting, but now the bowling has to improve,” Petersen said.

The Lions team is likely to be a blend of experienced senior players such as De Bruyn, Neil McKenzie, Petersen and Thami Tsolekile and exciting new prospects like Chris Morris, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Pumelela Matshikwe. The mix excites Toyana.

“It’s a good thing to have that mix and I’ve appointed Neil to work with Temba Bavuma this season, while Alviro will mentor Quinton de Kock. Plus there’s Stephen Cook around too so there’s experience and youth, and it’s a good mix,” Toyana said.

The Lions begin their Sunfoil Series campaign against the Cobras in Potchefstroom on Thursday, before playing the Dolphins in Johannesburg from September 27. But then, in a quirk of scheduling, they will change to T20 action with the Champions League taking precedence.

“I can live with it, there are no issues, it’s easier to go from four-day cricket to T20 than the other way round,” Toyana said.

Petersen reckoned that the two four-day games would be a good build-up for the Lions as they look to celebrate a lucrative payday in the Champions League.

“It will be good for us, those two four-day games will give us a good base. Hopefully we’ll spend a lot of time batting and bowling and we’ll be at 100% going into the Champions League,” Petersen said.

“The last couple of years, we’ve been building a team to win the four-day competition and now we’ve got the squad, there’s a good vibe around the team.

“Geoff’s style is different, as with every coach. He’s more relaxed. The Lions have matured as a side, Dave Nosworthy did a great job steadying the ship, and now Geoff allows the guys just to express themselves. He also communicates well with both the young and senior players,” the national team opener said.

“The players must relax, I want them to start enjoying playing cricket again, that has been missing. But we want to hit the season running. We tend to only wake up after two or three games, so I’ve emphasised that we need a good start,” Toyana said.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-four-day/news/120917/Toyana_confident_Lions_have_the_weaponry

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Gauteng cricket may have been accused in the past of being slow on the transformation front, but they made history on Tuesday by announcing Geoffrey Toyana as the new Highveld Lions head coach, the first black African to take charge of a franchise team.

Although the bold move may be seen as a gamble given that Toyana has never been a head coach at franchise level before, the 38-year-old has been steadily working his way up the coaching ladder and has done his apprenticeship.

He was the assistant coach to previous Lions mentor Dave Nosworthy, who resigned last month, and was the head coach of the Easterns team between 2008 and 2011. Toyana has also been an assistant coach with the SA U19 and Emerging Players teams.

“This is a very important and historic day for the development of cricket in this region. Geoffrey has a wealth of experience and talent, he played at the highest provincial level and he’s the right person to make sure there is a constant flow in the pipeline from amateur to professional cricket. We decided not to advertise the post because we felt we had somebody with the quality and experience to replace Dave Nosworthy in Geoffrey,” Lions CEO Cassim Docrat said at the Wanderers on Tuesday.

A left-handed batsman and part-time offspinner, Toyana played 84 first-class and 71 List A limited-overs games for Transvaal, Gauteng, Easterns and the Titans, between 1995/96 and 2011. He averaged just 24.49 and 18.95 respectively, scoring just one century, but his career was marked by the impression that his talent was never quite set free to blossom.

But you should not judge a coach by his playing record – Graham Ford, John Buchanan, Richard Pybus and Nosworthy himself are proof of that – and Toyana is confident that his own struggles as a cricketer will give him the empathy and understanding to help his charges.

Toyana should perhaps be more wary of the growing level of interference coaches now have to put up with from their boards – which is believed to be the reason Nosworthy resigned – but the Soweto product said his predecessor had taught him well.

“I’m very close to the board and there are no issues between us. But Dave also taught me a lot in terms of how to handle selection and budgets,” Toyana said.

The new coach will also have a hardened right-hand man in bowling coach Gordon Parsons, your typical crusty old county pro who was also the head coach of the Lions between 2005/6 and 2007/8, with Dumisa Makalima (video analyst), Craig Govender (physio) and Jeff Lunsky (trainer) the other support staff.

While the Lions played fantastic, entertaining cricket during their MiWay T20 Challenge run to the final last season, they ultimately fell short in the final, extending the franchise’s trophy-less run to five seasons. Toyana will inherit a squad with some exciting youngsters as well as a handful of experienced veterans, but he knows the lack of trophies will be the first thing he has to remedy.

“We have a good, experienced squad, but for the last five years we have struggled to win trophies. I hope I can turn this around and I’m walking into a structure that is all set up, so I want to create an environment in which the players can grow,” Toyana said.

“But I’m very delighted and humbled by the appointment and I hope I can be an example for other coaches in the townships and show that if you do the work, you can make it.”

Toyana’s appointment has been lauded by the Soweto Cricket Club, where both he and his father, Gus, began their playing days.

“As a club, where Geoffrey has played most of his cricket since his late father, Gus Toyana, led the club as captain and chairman, we are overjoyed at the message this sends to not only our players, but to all previously disadvantaged cricketers in both province and country. Geoffrey has always been a sterling example of a rolemodel throughout his cricket career,” Soweto CC chairman Gordon Templeton said.

“The board of the Lions franchise have illustrated the ability to be visionary in their outlook for the future of cricket not only in the Gauteng province, but also in South Africa. History will reflect that they have taken a cricketing decision to usher in a new era in the sport.”

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-cricket/news/120710/Lions_make_history_in_appointing_Toyana