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.

So before I continue with this “Press Release,” I was wrong with an estimated prediction I made during a dialogue circle with Four6Out. I had predicted this would be an appointment for Yolandi van der Westhuizen. While I didn’t end up blogging those predictions, I did mention them on social media feeds as an open discussion.

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 with the past
season’s gains highlighted by Hollywoodbets coming on board as a competition sponsor. De Ridder who matriculated at Langenhoven
Gymnasium in Oudtshoorn hold a Cricket
South Africa Level III coaching qualification and is said to have a
coaching career that stretches over more
than twenty years, 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 seasons will be recorded as one of the success stories in the advancement of women’s
cricket in our annals,“ he concluded.