Sadler delighted to finally bring 'great man' Kleinveldt back to Northants

John Sadler is a happy man after finally finding the final piece to the Northants coaching team jigsaw this week.

The appointment of former Steelbacks player Rory Kleinveldt as the club's new lead bowling coach completes the backroom staff at the County Ground, and the head coach couldn't be happier.

Kleinveldt joins new batting coach Greg Smith and fielding and spin bowling coach Graeme White in the Wantage Road ranks and Sadler believes his arrival, after a long few months of frustrating visa issues, is going to be a huge boost for Northants.

Asked exactly what Kleinveldt, who has spent the past two seasons in a similar role at Western Province, will bring to the club, Sadler said "First of all, Rory is a great man who cares very, very deeply for the club, and has a really strong emotional connection with the club.

"When we approached him, he was very excited to come here and he brings a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of experience.

"He obviously has an excellent playing pedigree, he has played international cricket, he was one of the best bowlers for Northants when he was here, he was superb.

"So there is an instant respect there for what he has done in the game, but his coaching pedigree over the past few years has gone from strength to strength as well.

"He has done some work in South Africa, worked with their national side, so his career is going from strength to strength and he is going to be a real asset for us."

"He is going to be brilliant in terms of talking about the game tactically, with the likes of Ben Sanderson and Jack White.

"He is also going to bring a lot of knowledge on the technical side of the game as well, and will help some of those younger lads who might not be as robust as some of the senior players."

The deal to bring Kleinveldt to Northants has been agreed since earlier this year, but couldn't be confirmed due to the South African's visa issues.

But it was always on the cards the 41-year-old would be taking on the coaching role at Wantage Road, it was just a matter of when the announcement would be made.

That being the case, the bowling group worked under the stewardship of Kleinvedlt in their 10-day pre-season training camp in South Africa earlier this month, and things clicked between coach and players straight away.

"We had 10 days with Rory out in Stellenbosch, and he made a great impact there," said Sadler.

"The lads really enjoyed working with him as a person, and really enjoyed his coaching, and his coaching style.

"So he has already had an impact on the players, and it was really important that we did that so that now there's not so much time has been lost with him not being here.

"It's just great to get him here."