Dekker named Coach of the Month
Thursday 13th June 2019
Kent Women Lead Coach Mark Dekker has won ECB’s Coach of the Month accolade for May after guiding ‘The Horses’ to their first Royal London Women’s County Championship title since 2016.
Fittingly, he was presented with his trophy by three of the Kent team that play for England, on a training day at Chelmsford ahead of their One Day International against West Indies.
The Zimbabwean also sat in on a team meeting and spent time with Mark Robinson and the England coaching staff.
Kent Women won their first six County Championship games in a row before a final day defeat against Sussex after already being crowned champions for 2019.
“This caps a tremendous couple of months”, said Dekker. “The most exciting challenge was to find a way to integrate the England players and those younger players with less experience.
“It was about trying to get the right team dynamics. We wanted to get the younger players to take those skills and that knowledge from the senior players on board.
“You have to value every single person in the squad. We sat down as a group to decide what our values were. One of the most important things became making sure everyone felt part of it and using what every single player had to offer. I facilitated it but the senior players were the ones who drove it”.
Kent Cricket’s Director of Cricket, Paul Downton, said: “This award is a testament to the hard work that ‘Deks’ has put in after taking on this role as Kent Women Lead Coach in December.
“Kent’s Women’s side has a history of success and I’m know the current team, including four international players, have enjoyed working with Mark.
“His experience as a former Zimbabwe Test player and his empathy along with his innovative coaching will definitely have made a difference.”
The Spitfire Ground, St. Lawrence will be hosting a One Day International between Cricket World Cup Champions England and World T20 Champions Australia on Sunday 7th July, as part of the 2019 Women’s Ashes series (2-31 July).
Tickets are available here >>>
