Defending champs are the team to beat

A wise man once said that getting to the top was the easy part, and that the difficult thing was staying there.

Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) flagship team will, however, be hoping to achieve just that when they set out in defence of their Easterns Premier League title, with the 2013/14 season opener against Duduza, at Northern Areas, on Sunday, October 6.

The Benoni outfit won the Premier League for the very first time last season, ending years of domination by their great provincial rivals and neighbours Kempton Park, but they know that retaining the title will be a whole different ball game, as they will now be the team that all the others want to beat.

Coach Thys van Lingen, who joined BNCC at the beginning of last season, with a mandate to take captain Kurt Francis and his team to the league title within three years, knows exactly the position in which his troops now find themselves.

“From the coaching side, I focus on every game that is coming up as all my coaching activities are always focused on a ‘look into the future, forget the past’ philosophy,” van Lingen said.

“For me it is a new season and we will focus on winning without thinking about the past.”

However, as van Lingen disclosed: “A few good new players have joined us and amongst them is (Northern Titans) amateur Ernest Kemm, from Tuks Cricket.”

Kemm was part of the University of Pretoria side that won the National Club Championship, in Pretoria, last season; a tournament in which Benoni Northerns competed for the first time and did not disgrace themselves at all.

Having got their first taste of Club Champs last season, van Lingen said that he and his players want more, and the coach knows precisely how he is going to go about trying to achieve that goal.

“My main focus this coming season will be to build a squad of players with a good squad spirit,” he said.

That squad will include players from both the Premier and Promotion League (second) sides, to ensure that in-form players are always available for the defending top-flight champions.

“Therefore, the focus will be on doing well in both leagues,” added the coach.

“As normal, I will not focus on logs and also not be interested in any news with regards to other teams.

“My focus is BNCC; I have no interest in anything else whatsoever.”

BNCC chairman Gavin Rademeyer echoed those sentiments.

“Our main focus will be on defending our Premier League title, but we will spend a lot of time developing and coaching our junior cricketers, who enjoyed a record-breaking campaign last season,” he said.

“We are happy with the trials and team selections that have taken place during the last month, in both the junior and senior set-ups.

“A number of projects have been completed in the off-season, including the fitting of an electronic scoreboard on the A field and a drainage system on the B field.

“We thank our members for their continued support of BNCC and wish all players the best of luck in the upcoming season.

“Play the game in the spirit it was intended, and show integrity and honour at all times, both on and off the field.”