With the Fidelity Titans Ladies having just completed their first professional season in South African domestic cricket. Their head coach Byron Fraser will not be returning next season.
Fraser first took over the reigns in 2021 as the Titans head coach. Fraser, a CSA level 3 qualified coach, who’s aim was to take the Titans team to the next level, may have fallen short on those intentions.
“I believe that ladies cricket is growing rapidly, and I want to help the ladies here achieve their dreams of playing for the Momentum Proteas one day,” Fraser said according to the Citizen newspaper in 2021.
Currently, there are 5 Titans players contracted with the Proteas. Three of the five were signed by the Titans at the start of the season in Masabata Klaas, Anneke Bosch and Laura Wolvaardt. Sune Luus has been playing for the Proteas for over 10 years. The only player that made their Proteas debut under Fraser was bowling all-rounder Eliz-Mari Marx.
Wicketkeeper batter Tebogo Macheke, who was roped in from Limpopo, was part of the Proteas successful T20 World Cup team, but she never got a game for the T20 World Cup finalists. She has since fallen down the pecking order in the Proteas behind Mieke de Ridder and Karabo Meso.
There is no other Titans player that seems to be knocking in the Proteas squad currently. Gandhi Jafta, Simone Lourens, Robyn Searle, and Paulinah Mashishi have been good for the Titans. The new coach will certainly have something to build on. Under Fraser, the Titans captain, Robyn could not excel and make her way back to the Proteas squad.
Among the Black African batters that were developed under Fraser, Amogelang Maphungula is the best batter. Amogelang has the potential of being not only a solid and dependable attacking middle order batter for the Titans but also for the Proteas one day. Her future development will not be under the guardianship of Fraser. It will be interesting to see if the new coach will get her to be a regular in the SA Emerging squad.
The Titans have struggled to produce another Black African batter in the last 2 seasons. Tebogo’s batting has declined, she has found it harder to dominate in the top 6 compared to when she played for Limpopo in the promotional division. The Titans u19 girls at the past 2 CSA u19 weeks have not produced a reliable Black African or Black batter. The u19 girls team was captained by a Black batter, but she is yet to crack it into the first team.
Fraser might look at his tenure as a success based on his coaching philosophy. The Titans’ leadership will most likely believe the need for change was upon them. Especially now that women’s domestic cricket has been made professional.
“I am looking forward to being a part of this, and hopefully contribute to further success for the brand,” Fraser said when he was being announced the Titans coach in 2021.
“My philosophy has always been to try and improve on what we were the day before. This philosophy is more than just cricket. Improvement in all aspects is encouraged,”
The last time the Titans ladies won a trophy was over 10 years ago in the 2011/12 cricket season. In the 12 years since T20 cricket was introduced in women’s provincial cricket, the Titans have not yet won the trophy, and the last time they were runner-ups was the 2015/16 cricket season.
In actual fact, Fraser has not put or left the Titans ladies in a better position. For the stature, the Titans brand prides itself as one of the leading cricket brands in South Africa. They have, in this regard, failed to live up to their expectations.
The Northerns region is still strong at producing players such as Sune, Eliz-Mari, Delmi Tucker, Nadine de Klerk, and Dané van Niekerk are all from the Pretoria region. The success of producing such quality players over the last decade has not been translated into trophies. Three of the last 4 Proteas captain have come from the Tshwane region in Mignon, Dane and Sune.
The next Titans coach role will be to simply bring a trophy, and hopefully, that will start a new dawn for the Tshwane based franchise. Hopefully, more quality Black talent can come through from the region, but then again, looking into the males, the Titans team are not known for producing Black or Black African talent. They sign the Black African talent from other regions.
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