Advocate Nicolas Kock was elected as president of the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) at a special meeting of the WPCA general council at Newlands this week.
He succeeds Beresford Williams, who was recently elected vice-president of Cricket South Africa.
Kock has served the board of WPCA for 13 years, of which eight years were as vice-president.
Kock said it was a great honour to be appointed as president. “Growing up, I did not conceive that it was possible,” he said.
Asked about his major immediate goals, Kock said WPCA face two major challenges. “The first one is the stadium development which is probably, in cricketing context, the biggest in South African history that an association is attempting to embark on. If we manage to pull it off, it will provide us with the cornerstone of sustainability going forward for club cricket and cricket as a whole in the Western Cape region,” Kock said.
“The second challenge is our municipal cricketing facilities and its maintenance. Some have already been closed down as it was drought affected facilities. The security and maintenance, coupled with the overuse of the club facilities affected its ability to function properly. We have to sit down with all stakeholders to get to an equitable solution which will be beneficial to all stakeholders,” Kock said.
Nabeal Dien, chief executive officer of the WPCA, said: “Kock has waited in the wings as vice-president for many years and finally has the opportunity to take Western Province to greater heights.
“He is an extremely level-headed thinker and dedicated professional who has been involved with community sport at UWC for many years and has assisted many students in education. He has a particular passion for education. We wish him well for the future.”
Nabeal Dien, chief executive officer of the WPCA hailed the enormous dedication of Beresford Williams and his unwavering commitment to excellence of WPCA.
In other WPCA board appointments, Ashraf Burns was appointed vice-president and De Vries Basson has been voted on to the board as a non-independent director.
Burns is a dedicated and committed president of United Cricket Club. He has served on the board for many years and has a particular passion for club cricket.
Basson was the local leagues' chairman for 13 years and served with distinction in this capacity. Basson is head of internal medicine at the Karl Bremer Hospital.
African News Agency