Justin Ontong named head coach of Paarl Rocks

Justin Ontong, the former South Africa batter and most recently national men's team fielding coach, has been named as the new coach of the Paarl Rocks provincial side.

Ontong succeeds JP Duminy, who was in charge for a season and is now the South African men's white-ball batting coach. This is Ontong's first position as a head coach.

"I am honoured to be given this opportunity to lead the Rocks team. I have worked with several different teams and understand what it takes to build a winning team," Ontong said. "My focus will be to ensure that all the players are working towards the same goal and remain motivated."

Ontong is the third Paarl Rocks head coach in as many seasons. Adrian Birrell headed up the province in the 2021-22 summer, when the Paarl Rocks won the T20 Challenge, before Duminy got the job. Duminy was in charge in the 2022-23 season during which time he also held the position of Paarl Royals coach in the SA20. It is not known whether he will continue in that role in the coming season. Paarl are yet to add to their sole trophy but have maintained their position in the top-tier of South Africa's domestic structure.

CSA revamped the domestic cricket system three summers ago in which they did away with the six franchises and introduced two divisions, with eight teams in tier one and seven in tier two, and a promotion-relegation system. The first movements from that came after two complete seasons, and saw Bloemfontein's Knights drop down to division two, while the Pietermaritzburg-based Tuskers earned promotion. Paarl, who did not have its own franchise in the previous system, achieved a respectable fourth-place finish on the combined log.

Paarl Rocks have proven themselves to be strong contenders in white-ball tournaments, but have only won one red-ball match in the new era, something they would like to change. "Having Justin Ontong on board as the head coach of the Rocks is an immense addition to our organisation," James Fortuin, Paarl Rocks CEO, said.

While Ontong is mostly known for his white-ball numbers - he played 42 white-ball internationals for South Africa - he was capped twice in Tests and finished his career with a first-class average of 41.87 which makes him the ideal candidate to turn Paarl's red-ball form around.

When his playing days ended in late 2017, Ontong moved straight into coaching. He was appointed South Africa's fielding coach under Ottis Gibson in the 2017-8 season and remained in that role when Mark Boucher took over in December 2019. Boucher resigned the post after last year's T20 World Cup and has been succeeded by Shukri Conrad in Tests and Rob Walter in ODIs and T20Is, each of who has their own support staff. The white-ball fielding job has been given to Lions' coach Wandile Gwavu.