De Villiers wants to give Gary Kirsten a winning send-off – Cricket News
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gary-Kirsten-c58527, a fitting farewell by winning the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy in England.
“It would be nice to give him (Kirsten) a good farewell,” said de Villiers speaking at South Africa’s arrival press conference in London. “He's been a great coach to us. We've learned a h**l of a lot from him in the few years that he's been our coach. He's more like a mentor on the team,” the wicketkeeper batsman added further.
The just-to-begin seventh edition of the Champions Trophy in England will be Kirsten’s last assignment in charge, as he has decided against renewing his contract with Cricket South Africa. Kirsten, who took over as the Proteas’ head coach in 2011, last month announced that he will not renew his contract with CSA, citing family reasons.
Under Kirsten, the Proteas reached the top of the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Russell-c87177 Domingo, will replace Kirsten as the new head coach of the Proteas and de Villiers wants to give the outgoing head coach a winning send-off by clinching the Champions Trophy title.
De Villiers also lauded Kirsten’s coaching style, saying, "I find it funny calling him coach because no one calls him coach. He's almost like one of our friends and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Mentor-c41238 kind of guy that's really managed the team very, very well."
Before arriving in England, De Villiers and company spent five days in Amsterdam, where they played a One Day International against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Netherlands-c753 as part of their Champions Trophy preparation. On their arrival here in London, the Proteas played a warm-up match against Pakistan on Monday, though they lost the match by 6 wickets.
The Proteas will kick start their Champions Trophy campaign against India at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Besides India and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 and Sri Lanka.
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