Africa-Press – South-Africa. A sombre Mark Boucher has candidly admitted that his only true job satisfaction as Proteas mentor over the past few months has been gained from the actual coaching of the players.
The 46-year-old, despite guiding South Africa to second position on the ICC’s World Test Championship table as well as building an encouragingly strong T20 squad, ends a successful home season with his job on the line.
Next month, the feisty former wicketkeeper will be defending himself at a disciplinary hearing on charges of gross misconduct following Cricket South Africa’s Social Justice and Nation-building (SJN) hearings last year.
Those accusations relate to his involvement in discrimination against former national team-mate Paul Adams during their playing days as well as the questionable treatment of his now-departed assistant Enoch Nkwe.
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“Yes, the past few months have been tough. I’ve really enjoyed coaching the guys. On the cricketing side of things, we’ve got a very tight unit coming together. I’ve enjoyed being around them and seeing their development,” Boucher said shortly after the Proteas wrapped up a 2-0 series win over Bangladesh in Gqeberha on Monday.
“Outside of that, it would be quite difficult for me to say that I’ve enjoyed (my job). I believe that’s just being honest. I don’t think anyone in my situation can enjoy things with what’s been put on my plate. I’ve enjoyed the cricket things. That’s it.”
Pressed on how keen he would be to still be in his position when the Proteas depart for a crucial tour to England in August, he was, perhaps pragmatically, relatively diplomatic.
“The person that I am, I’m very competitive. You want to judge yourself against the best teams in the world. We’ve played against the two best side’s of recent times in India and New Zealand. They were hard fought series, which is good because that’s where your competitive spirits shows and we did well,” said Boucher.
“It’s always tough in England. It would be nice to compete against them, but we’ll see what happens in future.”
With a significant amount of time now available to him before he’ll have to invest most of his energy in the battle against his employer from May 16-20, the onus is now on conducting a thorough review process with the players.
“The plan is to have a personal development plan for every player. We’ll sit down with them as a coaching group and discuss contracts as well as areas where they’ve been good at and where they can improve,” said Boucher.
“There’s also a [50-over] World Cup around the corner, so we’ll need to sit down and determine a team that can play in those different conditions. There’s a lot of work to be done outside the season. It’s all in place and hopefully will be done within the next month.”
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