“It is a great opportunity to work with the Bangladesh National team. I am looking forward to working with the players as well as the management staff. Coaching on the international circuit is new for me and I will need to learn quickly. Being within a new team environment and culture will be a fantastic experience. GKC has been the bedrock for much of my development as a coach and I continue to be involved in the programs which are run around the world. The GKC team are tight knit group and their support of me in this opportunity has been truly humbling.” Ryan said.

Gary Kirsten commented “It is fantastic news and a well deserved reward for an individual who served his time as a coach in many different spheres, and with many different teams and age groups. The time we had with the Hobart Hurricanes was a great opportunity for him to work in the performance space with a professional team. He has an incredible work ethic, with fantastic ideas on how to get value out of his coaching sessions. I have no doubt he will be well received in Bangladesh and do a great job.”

News credit https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/784539

The post Head coach Ryan Cook named as new Bangladesh fielding coach appeared first on Gary Kirsten Cricket.

Fast forward a few months, Harry is excelling for both club and county. Upon returning from Cape Town, Harry trained with the Hampshire 2^nd XI and MCC Young Cricketers as he aimed to continue his training habits learned at the HPA. He started the season playing for his club St Cross and recently has run into a rich vein of form. He has amassed 5 hundreds and 3 fifties so far this season with the highlight being 101 not out for Kent 2^nd XI against Sussex to see the side home along with an unbeaten 60 in the first innings.

In a league fixture this weekend for his club St Cross, Harry was joined by fellow HPA player Billy Mead at 85 for 3 and the pair were only separated 190 runs later as Mead got to 70 off 103 balls. Harry however was in full swing and raised his bat on 3 occasions as he finished on 151 off 162 balls with 15 fours and 2 sixes pushing the St Cross boys past 300.

Harry’s day was far from over, he was thrown the ball after a good opening stand and started to make inroads to the Alton middle order. He was chief destroyer as he finished with 18 overs, 7 wickets for 52 runs resulting in a 56 run win for the away team. A remarkable all round performance which upon reflection Harry laughs and says, “I doubt I will have a better day on a cricket pitch!”

He didn’t have to wait long for that day to come, less than a week later Harry opened the batting for the Kent 2XI against Leicestershire and was out just prior to declaration in the 2^nd innings for 185 off 278 balls.

In the current form that he is in, who knows what his next achievement may be but he is staying grounded and humble in his aspirations for the rest of the season. “I hope to keep playing regular 2^nd XI cricket, keep putting scores on the board with the hope of pushing for a professional contract.” His time and effort at the HPA seems to be paying dividends and he is complimentary of the program, “I loved every minute of the HPA, it definitely improved all aspects of my game. I met some amazing people and had some unbelievable experiences.”

We will be following Harry and the other HPA players seasons closely and will continue to provide updates. For more player reflections for the HPA click through to garykirsten.com/high-performance-academy/

Image credit www.basingstokegazette.co.uk

The post Bubbling Under – Harry Came appeared first on Gary Kirsten Cricket.

Michael, who attended the Gary Kirsten Cricket High Performance Academy from early January this year has earned a summer contract with Essex and has been on upward trajectory since attending the academy in Cape Town for 3 months. These achievements may have come as a surprise to some but not to the coaches at the GKC HPA. “Michael’s ability to put bad balls away makes him a dangerous batsman and a difficult man to bowl to” stated Ryan Cook, Head Coach of the program, he continued, “The growth that Michael showed in his time at the academy pointed the needle to what he is capable of both on and off the field, he has immense potential and it is very satisfying that his hard work is paying dividends in performance”. Upon leaving the academy Michael reflected “The Gary Kirsten High Performance academy was an important mental shift for me. I learnt a lot about my own game, where my strengths are and when to play what shot at the right time.”

His rapid rise is just a start of things to come and Gary Kirsten’s comment on Michael is testimony to this, “Michael’s shift in the maturity of his game was great to witness, this was reflected in his both his batting and his lifestyle.”

This consistency has been reflected as the following weekend Michael scored 155 against Copdock and Old Ipswichian CC, which pushes his average to 93 for the season. When asked about his aspirations for season, he said,“I just want to keep scoring runs and secure a professional contract at the end of the year.”

Watch this space for more updates on the High performance Academy attendees and watch the players reflections here

The post A Seasoning of Pepper appeared first on Gary Kirsten Cricket.

Mxit is a feature phone user’s key to unlock functions usually reserved for smart phones. A simple prerequisite of a basic data connection enables a feature phone user to experience smart phone features by downloading the app. Mxit breaks the norm of exclusivity to smart phones, making an array of apps and games available for any Mxit user.

Mxit is available for download across more than 8,000 different feature phones, smartphones and tablets. It will provide the growing 550 million feature phones users across India with the ability to affordably use their basic data-enabled feature phone like a smartphone, with advanced functionality for chat, browsing the Internet and accessing apps and games. The platform is both fast and data light allowing users with even the most basic 2G connection to benefit from an immersive social mobile chat experience, at a much lower cost than the average SMS.

Available on Java, Nokia, iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows phone operating systems, it allows 300+ characters as compared to 140 characters in a SMS.  It even works on basic 2G connection with limited memory and is fast & data light in its functioning. Mxit is customized for each user as per their region. Currently available in English & Hindi, the team is working towards offering 10 Indian languages (Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese and Oriya) within 6 months.

Gary Kirsten comments, “I am honored to be chosen as an ambassador for Mxit’s Indian launch. From what I’ve seen in South Africa, access to the information and services available through Mxit is potentially life changing to people not currently connected. Mxit is an excellent platform to facilitate this.”

Users will also gain free access to mobile education, healthcare and community apps, have the ability to exchange pictures and send chat messages of up to 2,048 characters, providing a gateway to vital information and functionality previously unavailable to feature phone users.

To download Mxit 7 visit – www.mxit.com/in

Follow Mxit on Twitter @Mxit_India

Facebook@ “Mxit India”

The post Gary Kirsten teams up with MXIT in India appeared first on Gary Kirsten Cricket.