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Johan Botha, a former captain of South Africa’s limited overs team, has been named the next head coach of Queensland in state cricket and the BBL’s defending champion Brisbane Heat for the next three years.
The appointment of Botha, 42, followed Wade Seccombe’s exit. Former England all-rounder Adam Hollioake, as well as Queensland WNCL and Brisbane Heat women’s coach Ashley Noffke, were also considered for the position. Former Test wicketkeeper Ian Healy, CEO Terry Svenson, and Joe Dawes, manager of Queensland’s elite cricket programme, oversaw the hiring process for coaches.
After moving to Adelaide in 2012 to play full-time for South Australia, Botha’s international career with South Africa was essentially over. He has played five Tests, 78 ODIs, 40 T20Is, and skipper his nation in 21 white-ball matches. Botha is an Australian citizen.
He led South Australia in the Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup for two years before stepping down in the middle of the 2014–15 campaign to make room for Travis Head. Botha has participated in 71 BBL games with the Adelaide Strikers, Sydney Sixers, and Hobart Hurricanes, giving him a plenty of playing experience. He left the game early in 2019 to accept a coaching position in the PSL, but he returned as a stand-in for the Covid-ravaged 2020–21 season.
Over the past few years, he has accumulated a great deal of worldwide coaching expertise. Three PSL teams—Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, and Multan Sultans—have had him as their head coach. In the CPL, he also served as coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors, a squad that used a lot of spin to get to the championship game in 2019.
He served as head coach of the Sharjah Warriors in the ILT20 last season, despite their elimination from the competition, and as assistant coach of the Seattle Orcas in the MLC, where they were the runners-up. As recently as 2022–2023 he was also an assistant coach with the Strikers in the BBL.
It is understood Dawes and the Queensland Cricket Board were looking for a coach with a harder edge and they feel they have found that person in Botha.
“Johan is a fiercely motivated and determined person and has consistently displayed those traits during his playing and coaching career,” Dawes said. “He is very much at the cutting edge of the game internationally and will bring a fresh and dynamic outlook to our organisation and especially the Bulls and championship Brisbane Heat squads.”