COVERED SPRING 2021

15 @TRENTBRIDGE As he completes his latest working day at the venerable venue that isTrent Bridge, glancing over his shoulder as the setting sun dips beneath the Smith Cooper Stand, Ant Botha is a cricket tragic living his best life. An adopted Midlander of 17 years, a fierce competitor, an appreciator of cricketing tradition and someone who craves an elite and inspiring environment, there can surely be no better fit for Botha than Nottinghamshire, Notts Outlaws andTrent Bridge. When you consider the myriad of cross- roads he has encountered along the way, it’s hard to ignore the role of fate in bringing the 44-year-old former all- rounder to where he is today. In professional sport, and in the real world, much is made of the concept of game-changers; key moments that make a profound and defining difference to a match, a season or a life. Game-changers, of course, are what you make of them. Spend half an hour in the company of Ant Botha and it’s clear that he’s been prepared to take the bold deci- sions, and display the force of personality required, to make the best of his. From seam-bowling opening batsman for South Africa’s under 19’s to left-arm spinning all-rounder for Natal six months hence, Botha went on to take 518 senior professional wickets. A South African player with a winter vocation as an overseas professional in club cricket, Botha was to discover in his mid-twenties that he in fact had an English father. Consequently, he began to line up for Derbyshire as a non-overseas player. He made 270 appearances in county cricket in all, acquitted himself with distinction throughout and is now approaching two decades in the English game. At the age of 34 and plying his trade with Warwickshire, Ant finally discovered the kind of “solution-based coaching” he believed would make him a better player. Injury ended his career soon afterwards, but it sparked a passion for developing cricketers that continues to the present day. “I SENSED FROM DAY ONE THAT THERE’S AN ATTITUDE PEOPLE EXPECT YOU TO HAVE HERE – ONE OF POSITIVITY, OF FAMILY-LIKE FRIENDLINESS AND OF EXACTING STANDARDS BOTH ON AND OFF THE FIELD.” Ant Botha ANT BOTHA