Having the annual spin camp for South African franchise bowlers earlier than usual will benefit them in the long run, says Nicky Boje. Kobus Pretorius reports.

The former Proteas spinner will take charge of the annual spin camp, where he will work closely with South Africa’s best spin bowlers as well as a few up and coming youngsters.

After retiring from the game Boje coaches the Free State academy team and also helps out at the High Performance Centre

The camp is usually held in India or Sri Lanka, but will this time instead be held from 17-20 June at Tuks’ HPC in Pretoria.

Participants are chosen by Boje and Vincent Barnes (High Performance Coach) in conjunction with Cricket South Africa.

‘Camp is usually held a lot closer to the start of the season, which means some of the players tend to fall back on bad habits early on because they have too little time to implement the stuff we work on,’ Boje told SACricketmag.com.

‘This time it’s much earlier in the year, so the players will have enough time to work out game-plans and work on their bowling actions.’

Boje will hold group and individual video sessions with the spinners and time will also be spent working on bowling actions and new variations.

Players from the South African A side, as well as members of the Proteas squad for the tour of Bangladesh, will also be in attendance and should boost their preparations for the busy international season ahead.

Between 10 and 11 spinners are expected to attend the camp, while HD Ackerman will work with about 10 batsmen, who are also attending the camp.