de Bruyn: "I have a magnificent platform"

New Leicestershire CCC Head Coach Pierre de Bruyn feels that continuity will be the key when he takes over from Andrew McDonald at the end of the 2016 season.

The 39-year-old will continue to assist McDonald for the final three Specsavers County Championship matches before taking the reins at the Fischer County Ground.

When that moment arrives, de Bruyn feels that it will be a case of carrying on McDonald’s excellent work over the last two years, as he explained at his first press conference this afternoon.

“It’s an absolute privilege to sit in this position and there are exciting times ahead,” said de Bruyn. “We don’t have to reinvent the wheel, I have a magnificent platform that has been created by Wasim Khan, the Chief Executive, and Andrew (McDonald) from a cricketing point of view.

“The most important thing is that we keep on growing. The players are familiar with me and vice versa. I’ve had a lot of time to get to know players’ games, as well as their personalities and what drives them, in my role as Assistant Coach.

“I know what the needs are and I know the players well. Expectations will be high and that is fine, because expectations should be high in any professional environment.

“Pressure is a privilege in my opinion and there will be pressure, we can’t keep on riding on the fact that we’re in a rebuilding phase. I think the rebuilding is done, its taken Andrew and Wasim two years to do that, now it’s business time, and I’m sitting with that responsibility on my shoulders to meet those expectations.

“I want to win trophies, because that’s what you get measured on. You’ve got to be realistic in life but when you look at our list, there’s no reason why we can’t have success. If we don’t set the bar really high then we might as well have an excuse that we’re still in a rebuilding phase.”

de Bruyn learnt his trade as a coach at the University of Pretoria, an environment where developing people and their skill sets was absolutely vital. He worked alongside domestic and international players - something that he has also done this summer - so de Bruyn has a vast array of skills that will stand him in good stead for his new position at the FCG.

“I’m a straightforward person when it comes to coaching philosophies, I keep things really simple,” said de Bruyn. “I have had six or seven years coaching experience in South Africa before coming to Leicestershire. I worked in a semi-professional environment but also worked with professional players and some internationals too.

“I am very familiar with the needs of professional players, what they want, and how they want to grow, in order to get the best out of them. My role was initially as Second XI Coach but I have sat alongside Andrew for the last few months and learnt an awful lot in what the culture means, and where the club wants to go with the culture and values.

“I’m very content with what is needed going forward, I’m very excited and I know that I can make a massive impact from a coaching point of view.”

de Bruyn is happy with the way that the Leicestershire squad has taken shape, with some new signings to be confirmed in the coming week. However, his immediate thoughts are on the next three games as Leicestershire look to finish the season strongly.

He said: “The balance of the squad is really important. You need senior players but you have got to make sure that the young blood comes through and get a good balance with their exposure to professional cricket, as that is how you will get the best out of young players. There should always be a focus on the future in professional sport.

“We’re sitting in a very nice position where the squad is looking strong with a couple of announcements to come, and the balance is very exciting. We’ve invested in some areas where we needed to and it’s (recruitment) more or less done.

“But before we look too far ahead, we’re well aware of the fact that there’s still a lot of work to be done this season. There are three games left and we believe that we can win all of them. It’s business as usual, nothing has changed, and we will keep the same mindset.”