Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey
South African cricket is in need of an urgent overhaul and revamp. The Proteas’ men’s team is positioned in lowly sixth spot in the ICC Test Rankings and occupies fifth place in both the ODI and T20I standings. Now, head coach Mark Boucher, along with his assistant Enoch Nkwe, are looking to turn this situation around.
Moreover, Cricket South Africa (CSA) is finalizing the future international and domestic fixtures of the team. The board is engaged in administrative mayhem currently, but Boucher is confident in improving the performances of the side on the field. Last month, the team took part in a culture camp at Skukuza in Mpumalanga. Apparently, there are now talks of formulating a new era for South African cricket. Boucher sheds light on the same.
“It was important for this team to create a new identity. It [just] happened a little bit later than expected. It was good to have a deeper squad as well. I haven’t really been given the opportunity to meet a lot of them personally so it was really nice to catch up with them – see a couple of new faces and see a couple of old faces‚ spend a bit of time together and get into the nitty-gritties about where we want to go as a team,” the former wicketkeeper-batsman was quoted as saying by Times Live.
The 43-year-old also hinted of bringing in a change in the attitude of the players. He observed that he didn’t want the bunch of cricketers to be a nice group of guys and be placed at the eighth spot in the world rankings. He added, “We’re all aligned in the right direction‚ and although it’s all still words – we still need to go out there and try and live it‚ rather than have it be words coming out of our mouths. I’m happy that the players are happy‚ but now the hard work starts.”
Boucher stressed on the importance of match practice. He expressed his satisfaction at some of his players taking part in the ongoing Indian Premier League as they would get some game-time for their respective franchises.
The stalwart hoped for the players to drive on the vision that they have developed for themselves once the group gets back to playing together. He admitted that as the side is young, they are prone to commit some mistakes. However, learning from those errors will make them a better team, according to Boucher.
The head coach stated, “I do believe that we’ve got the talent to do that and if we play in that sort of way‚ I have no doubt that there’s going to be success.”
“The players are keen to try something different in order to get different results‚ especially when we go to big tournaments,” he concluded.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
