Western Province and Proteas spinner George Linde reached 250 wickets in first-class cricket recently.
The milestone arrived during Western Province’s 51-run win over the Dolphins at Kingsmead last week. The fixture was Linde’s 77th in first-class cricket. Nine of his 251 first-class wickets have been taken in Test match cricket.
“It’s nice to have that milestone and hopefully there’s more to come. I obviously want to get to 100 first-class games as well,” said Linde.
“It’s a nice achievement and hopefully there’s plenty more to come and plenty of runs this season. This is quite special for me. Obviously you get a lot more wickets and more runs. All I want to do is contribute to the team the best way I can and for the team to win trophies is my ultimate goal.”
Western Province have named Proteas quartet Kyle Verreynne, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham and Dane Paterson in the squad for this week’s 4-Day Domestic Series fixture against the Warriors at Newlands. They recently returned from South Africa’s Test series in Bangladesh.
“With our Proteas back, hopefully we’ll have a good team performance and it’s always good to have them come back into the environment,” added Linde.
“I love the spirit they are in and the intensity they bring to training, which is good for us heading into the Warriors game. Also, if you want to win this competition, you have to play well in most games, and that is what we want to do this week.
Western Province currently occupy fifth position on the 4-Day Domestic Series, division one, points table. The Warriors, who have recruited former Western Province Colts batsman Matthew de Villiers, are in sixth position.
“The Warriors are a difficult team and they’re obviously a strong team. They’ve got very good players, and I just think it’s going to be a good all-round game this week,” added Linde.