Martyn Moxon says Yorkshire’s change of pre-season tour venue from the United Arab Emirates to South Africa is a win-win scenario for the county.
The White Rose have been regular visitors to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in recent years, including twice for the four-day champion county clash with the MCC in 2015 and 2016. They have also interspersed that with visits to Barbados and Colombo.
Yesterday (Wednesday), a 20-man playing squad departed Emerald Headingley for the NWU PUK Sports Village in Potchefstroom, approximately a 90-minute drive from Johannesburg.
The facility in Potchefstroom, where Yorkshire will spend 13 days, has been used by the England Lions, while it was also the Spanish football team’s base for the 2010 World Cup, which they won.
Assistant coach Rich Pyrah has been twice before and has described the facilities as “the best in the world”.
“We wanted a change of scenery. We’ve been to the Middle East for the last four or five years now,” said Moxon, Yorkshire’s director of cricket.