Boucher tasked with restoring Proteas’ shattered confidence

The Proteas new team director Mark Boucher has identified his first task in the job as restoring confidence to the side.

South African cricket has endured a dismal year on the field to go along with the boardroom shenanigans that have plagued CSA.

After sweeping the bilateral series against Pakistan, things went pear-shaped with the arrival of Sri Lanka. A Lankan team that seem to lurch from crisis to crisis themselves pulled off a Test series win over the Proteas on their own patch and the writing was on the wall.

The Cricket World Cup started with expectations low. Still, the Proteas managed to disappoint, losing to Bangladesh and being among the first teams eliminated from the running for the semi-finals.

After some time off the Proteas reassembled for a tour to India where they would scrap to a 1-1 tied T20I series off the back of Quinton de Kock but the Test series that followed saw the team deliver a performance that was tepid at best.

Boucher to boost flagging confidence

Boucher says that his first task as team director will be to create an environment where the players can regain their confidence and start performing again.

“The first thing I need to achieve is get the confidence of the players back. I think that is something that if we are brutally honest they have been through a tough time with the World Cup and the Indian tour, they haven’t had good coverage in the media and social media people and fans have been disappointed in the performances.

“So, if you look at it, if we are honest with ourselves, their confidence is a little low. For me, it’s about creating an environment where they can forget about all this stuff and get out there and start scoring runs and taking wickets to get their confidence back as soon as possible.”

Boucher will draw on his experience as an international as he seeks to put things right and the record-breaking former wicketkeeper is confident the team will show improvement quickly.

“[I have] been involved in teams where confidence is low, maybe a couple of bad things have happened within the team. But I am also a firm believer that in cricket and sport, you can turn things around very quickly.”

The Proteas Test series against England forms part of the World Test Championship which will run from 2019 until 2021 when the top two sides will meet in the final at Lord’s. South Africa are yet to register a point on the log after being whitewashed in their first WTC series in India.

Boucher has coached the Titans for the last four seasons as well as directing the Tshwane Spartans in the Mzansi Super League. He will be looking to wrap up his time with the Centurion-based sides with an MSL title as the Spartans take on the Paarl Rocks on Monday 16 December.