/ 11 April 1999

WOOLMER GETS HELP

NATIONAL cricket coach Bob Woolmer will have two assistants for the World Cup campaign in England, United Cricket Board managing director Dr Ali Bacher announced on Thursday. Free State’s Corrie van Zyl and Graham Ford of Natal will both go with the squad to assist Woolmer in preparing the players. “We wanted to give the players the best possible support structure for their endeavours at the World Cup,” he said. “Both are ‘workaholics’ and if any players want a few hundred balls bowled to them at nets, either would oblige,” Bacher said. But he warned against guessing if the appointments have anything to do with Woolmer’s successor, when the national coach steps down after the World Cup. Bacher stressed: “These appointments are for this specific seven-week period, and are not a signal about the national coaching position.”

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