COVERED SPRING 2021

COVERED 16 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK In January 2014, with emigration to his wife’s native Australia recently completed, Ant was invited by GraemeWelch to join the coaching team at Derbyshire. He jumped on a plane, without his wife and kids initially, but threw himself into the role.The UK was, once again, home and has remained so ever since. Four winters ago, shortly after the appointment of Peter Moores as Head Coach, Botha was bound for Bridgford as Nottinghamshire’s new Assistant Coach. Spying the opportunity, making a bold decision and delivering with trademark relish has become a recurring theme. To say he’s enjoying life at Trent Bridge would, it seems, be an understatement. “I sensed from day one that there’s an attitude people expect you to have here – one of positivity, of family-like friend- liness and of exacting standards both on and off the field,” he says. “Those are things that resonate with me and makeTrent Bridge a lovely place for us all to be. It’s built on years and years of evolving the culture and moulding the expectations placed upon you when you represent this fantastic club. “I absolutely love it. I genuinely love coming to work. People get the freedom and space to grow, to develop themselves and to be creative – and that’s a great credit to everyone involved in the leader- ship of the club. “If people give me that, I’ll take a bullet for them – it’s the same kind of loyalty that I give to my lifelong mates. “I have a real debt of gratitude for the way I’ve been treated, both personally and as a professional. “Once I know people have got my back, I appreciate it and I’ll fight for the cause until the end.” Was it not for the surprise revelation, aged 25, that he could qualify for a British passport, Botha’s life could – of course – be very different. It’s something upon which he reflects long and hard, albeit in a balanced and neutral fashion. “Make no mistake, I absolutely love Africa,” Botha reflects. “Africa is in my blood and I often wonder, if none of that had happened, where would I be? “But I don’t do that in a negative or positive way. I think about how lucky and privileged I have been to be involved in county cricket for nearly two decades, first as a player and now as a coach. “The passion I bring to my role comes from looking back at the rawness of how we were coached in the days when I first started and what I’ve learned about it since. “To be actively involved in that, to have the opportunity to work atTrent Bridge, being able to refine the coaching ability I always believed I had; I feel genuinely blessed and lucky to have those opportunities.” He may not have known it at the time, but Botha’s formative years – spent playing every sport imaginable, all within a fiercely competitive environment – were already laying the foundations of a future coaching career. “I was always sport crazy,” he recalls. “I played a high level of tennis up to the age of 16 and I went to school at Maritz- burg College, which was attended by the likes of Kevin Pietersen, Jonty Rhodes and Springboks fly-half Butch James. “There were 1,300 boys, going to watch first team cricket and rugby was compul- sory, losing at anything was taken very seriously and we learned how to win. “I was playing all kinds of different sports competitively and that set a nice grounding