It's been a dream start for Andre Botha in his tenure as Balbriggan Head Coach, helping them to the Leinster Championship and Premiership in successive seasons. He won't be resting on his laurels though, with plans already in place to keep them at the top.

CricketEurope caught up with Andre this week while he was finalizing preparations for an Autumn coaching camp with fellow former international John Mooney, and Graham Ford.

CE: You had a lot of success in South Africa. Was it a tough choice to come back to Ireland or always in you plans?

South Africa has been very good to me. I learned a lot in my time over there and also grown as a coach. It was never a tough choice to come back to Ireland but I always knew that if we came back that I would have to start at the bottom again and work my way up as a coach like I did as a player when I first arrived.

Why Balbriggan? Did you spot the potential there?

When the news came out that we are looking at the possibility of moving back to Ireland I started a few conversations with a couple of clubs.

It came down to two clubs ( Balbriggan and Clontarf). It was very tough to say no to Clontarf where I’ve spent so much of my life in Ireland. But after talking with Balbriggan I had to make a decision that will be best for me as a coach.

I was very impressed with Balbriggan’s ambitions and clear plans on growing the club. It felt right to join them as we are both wanting to grow and move to the next level.

Has the speed of success surprised you at Balbriggan?

When I had my first meeting with the club I’d set out some goals and said that this is a five year plan. Winning the championship and the premier league in consecutive years was a huge achievement. All of a sudden our focus and goals need to change very quickly to making it a sustainable product and stay competitive in the long run. So yes the speed of the progress really surprised me and I can’t keep up....

Define the Andre Botha coaching style?

I don’t think I have a particular coaching style but man management for me is very important. Everyone is different, so getting to know and understand different individuals to try and get the best out of their abilities as best I can.

What elements of other coaches have you taken? You played under Adi Birrell and Phil Simmons with Ireland of course.

A lot of my coaching methods is influenced by Adi. He played a very big part in my cricketing career and life and I hope I can do the same for some young cricketers. Phil has plenty of cricket knowledge that I always tap into. Overall I love to listen to coaches, you always learn something.

What has been the formula behind the success for you?

Again I don’t think there is a specific formula that I can pencil down. What I can say is commitment, work ethic, team spirit, buying in to and believing in a game plan. I am very fortunate that the Balbriggan players and members have all the above in abundance.

You and Jeremy Bray have been involved with Ireland youth sides this summer. is that an avenue you're keen to expand?

Yes definitely, I’m very thankful to Pete Johnston and Albie van der Merwe for the opportunity to do some work with the young players in the Irish academy and it’s great working and learning from both of them. I can see there is a lot of potential in Ireland’s future cricketers and like I mentioned before I would love to try and make a small difference in some of these young players lives.

You are about to embark on hosting a Cricket Camp. Tell us a bit about that?

Well the Cricket Clinic, Balbriggan played against YMCA and Graham Ford and myself just had a general chat. In our conversation we talked about what cricket goes on in the winter for young cricketers. We spoke about the possibility of a cricket clinic and both of us were pretty interested in the idea.

A couple of days later I bumped into John Mooney and mentioned our conversation and idea to him. So long story short we organised to meet up and discuss the possibility of a clinic. The timing wasn’t great with Fordy heading to South Africa for the SAT20 auction and John going to play in the Legends league. It did not leave us with a lot of time to finalise and advertise the clinic but yes, we are going to have a high performance clinic in November starting on the second and will run through the whole month for two hours (18:00-20:00) every Wednesday in North County.

There is limited space and only 15 more slots available. I also want to thank John Kirstens and SM Cricket Ireland that was willing to come on board on short notice. They will also be holding a road show at North County.

At the clinic we have three highly qualified coaches so anyone that is interested will get a lot of knowledge and maybe improve their skills. It’s a great opportunity for young cricketers to learn and ask questions.