South Western Districts Cricket has confirmed the appointment of Wynand de Ridder as the new head coach of the Six Gun Grill Garden Route Badgers professional women’s team for the 2025/26 season.
The 44 year-old de Ridder will take over from Martelize van der Merwe who was the coach of the team for the past three years and was pivotal in the successful transition and elevation of the team to one of six fully fledged professional teams in the country. As from the past season Hollywoodbets came on board as a competition sponsor.
De Ridder who matriculated at Langenhoven Gymnasium in Oudtshoorn held the Cricket South Africa Level III coaching qualification has a coaching career that stretches over more than twenty years and including a stint as a consultant with the Kenyan national team. For the past four years he was employed as the Colts/Academy and U/19 coach at the Garden Route Badgers where he achieved numerous successes – including his appointment as head coach of the Southern Superstars – the Western Cape team – for the Cricket South Africa U/19 Cubs tournament.
De Ridder’s big assignment will be to ensure the desirable performances of the Badgers professional women’s team and to make sure they stay in the professional women’s echelon of only six teams.
The president of SWD Cricket, Mr Micheal Eksteen, congratulated de Ridder on his appointment. “This appointment is recognition for the professional work ethic and dedication that Wynand has shown towards SWD Cricket and must be an inspiration for local coaches to advance via the pathway”. He also paid tribute to Martelize van der Merwe who will exit her position. “Martelize coached our women’s team in exciting and challenging times and her contributions during the past three season will be recorded as one of the success stories in the advancement of women’s cricket in our annals”, he concluded.
