Africa-Press – South-Africa. Proteas coach Mark Boucher was delighted with his side’s progress following their terrific yet challenging summer of cricket.
On Monday, South Africa thrashed Bangladesh by 332 runs at St George’s Park to seal the two-match Test series 2-0 and remain undefeated in red-ball cricket this summer.
This summer, Boucher’s side remained undefeated in the Test arena with a 2-1 Test series win against India at home, a draw in New Zealand 1-1, and whitewashing Bangladesh this month.
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The Proteas are currently second on the World Test Championship standings – 12 points behind leaders Australia – and Boucher says he has seen immense growth in the squad over the past few months.
“I think it was a good summer from where we were. We’re still learning; we definitely not a completed side yet,” Boucher reflected.
“We had some challenges along the way, we had times when we played some good, competitive cricket and one or two bad games like the first Test against India and New Zealand.
“The good part is that we learnt lessons, we spoke about those mistakes that we made. We’ve grown a lot in the short space of time and the results have been good. All in all, a successful summer.”
The Proteas were without six regular Test players – Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen – who opted to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL).
This saw the return of spinner Simon Harmer and subsequent debuts for Lizaad Williams and Ryan Rickelton.
“I think it’s good. What it has done is given us the opportunity to play a couple of other players and have a look and see what sort of players we have in our system that we can use and utilise in certain conditions,” said Boucher.
“These conditions have been completely different, we always knew the wickets were going to have more turn. It’s given the guys the opportunity to go out there and play a different brand of cricket, which has been very good to watch.”
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Boucher acknowledged that there’s some good competition within the squad for the returning IPL players with South Africa’s next red-ball encounter in August – an away tour against England.
“As coaches, it’s made us look at our squad differently and certainly has given us, I wouldn’t say headaches, as it’s a nice position to be in,” said Boucher.
“There’s some good competition within the team and it’s a nice position to be in.
“When I started, our depth wasn’t quite there and through Covid we had a look at a lot of players and it’s starting to pay off now. The new guys coming in have played well, it’s given us some great options as coaches and selectors.”
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