Love what you do and never work a day in your life, is a saying Dave Nosworthy clearly lives by; the cricket enthusiast actually lists his job as his hobby.
Nosworthy started playing cricket from an early age and went professional at the age of 18, playing for the Northern Transvaal and Border Cricket teams. When he was 30 years old, he hung the cricket bat and became a coach.
“I coached the Lions Cricket Club at Wanderers and the Titans cricket team. I have had the pleasure of coaching overseas, in New Zealand for the Somerset County Cricket, I’ve worked with some of the players, including AB de Villiers.”
Nosworthy started the Cricket Mentor programme early this year toward the development and training of young players. The programme recently entered an agreement with The Old Parks Club where Nosworthy is now based as a cricket consultant, working predominantly with schools and hosting cricket clinics during the holidays.
“The players that are emerging in the sport now are a lot younger than before and this is a great opportunity for them. We never had clinics when we were growing up or these kinds of opportunities,” he continued.
With so many good players in the sporting fraternity often opting to find better opportunities internationally, Nosworthy explained that it should not be a worrying factor for the sport of cricket in South Africa. “There will always be players that want more opportunities and it happens in every sport, where they leave to go overseas. Cricket has a great depth of players and we coach these boys to become better players as well. These days they enter the season from a very young age,” he enthused.
In 2014, Sports and Recreation Minister Fikile Mbalula announced the 60–40 quota system favouring African players. The system was aimed at providing inclusivity for sporting codes such as rugby, cricket and hockey.
Nosworthy assured that cricket was at the forefront of diversity, development and transformation. “We wish there could be more African players but it takes time to get to that standard. However, we don’t work on colour,” he concluded.
Details: Cricket Mentor 083 225 8996.
