Newly appointed Paarl Royals head coach Shane Bond is “excited” at the prospect of working with top Proteas stars like David Miller, Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi during the second edition of SA20, starting January 10.

The opening match of season 2 will be played between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Joburg Super Kings at St George’s Park in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).

“I will be coming back to South Africa after a gap of 10 years so I’m really excited as it’s a really cool place to play cricket,” the New Zealand legend, Bond said.

“I’m really excited at the opportunity of working with the Miller’s, Ngidi’s and Shamsi’s in our set-up. The passion and popularity for cricket is obviously huge in South Africa, especially when you talk about white ball competitions like the SA20,” he added.

Joburg Super Kings coach Stephen Fleming, who also is the head coach of the mother franchise CSK, spoke about being able to retain the core built during the first year.

“We have retained our core from last year and made some fresh additions to the squad via the auction. We’re looking forward to putting up another competitive campaign this year,” Fleming said.

Durban Super Giants coach Lance Klusener is also certainly ready to get cracking.

“The first step to that is to make the play-offs. We have a very well-balanced squad of players to challenge any team on any surface. I am looking forward to the challenge,” Klusener said.

Pretoria Capitals coach Graham Ford is equally excited to get the new season underway.

“Our aim will be to further expand and develop the exciting and enjoyable brand of cricket produced by the Capitals in Season 1,” Ford said.