WATCH | Former Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn on his role with Sunrisers Eastern Cape

Former Proteas premier fast bowler Dale Steyn is relishing the opportunity of playing a bigger role behind the scenes for the Sunrisers Eastern Cape during the inaugural edition of the SA20 tournament in January.

Steyn, who has been appointed bowling coach, will be part of a technical team that includes Adrian Birrell as head coach and Baakier Abrahams as assistant coach.

The Eastern Cape-based franchise is owned by Indian company Sun TV Network Limited who are also behind the Indian Premier League's (IPL) Sunrisers Hyderabad.

They have announced their first two signings of Proteas top order batter Aiden Markram and Dolphins fast bowler Ottneil Baartman.

Steyn said he will be involved in the team’s strategies and planning and implementing logistics and other related issues behind the scenes because of his intimate knowledge of SA conditions.

“In the IPL I am the bowling coach for the Sunrisers; with this tournament taking place in SA I think I will play a little bit of a bigger role.

“I will play a role in terms of strategy and things like which grounds we are going to play at. When you have foreign teams playing in SA, they want to know about everything, like hotels.

“They want to know about other important logistical things that will help make the process run smooth and allow the players to be more relaxed so that we can get the best out of them.

“I will be bowling coach again but I think my role will be a little bit more than just cricket.”

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