Proteas Team Director Mark Boucher hasn’t been afforded the ideal start to his tenure but needs the team to start producing results to buy him more time in the role.
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Boucher hasn’t been allowed to work as closely with the national team players as he would like, but in South African cricket circumstances are never going to be entirely ideal.
Most SA cricket fans will be crying out for stability even as a protracted and embarrassing board room scandal rages on.
The white-ball squads for the visit of England certainly suggest that Boucher is eager to put the best team he can out on the park with little experimentation going on, and only one uncapped player called up.
Boucher will be relying on several relatively inexperienced players to settle into the Proteas team and begin contributing to winning causes.
This is particularly true of the batsmen and the trio of Janneman Malan, Heinrich Klaasen and Kyle Verreynne who have all shown that they can win matches at international level.
For others, it might be approaching their last chance to impress and find a slot in the lineup. In the top order, those who might be feeling that pressure are Jon-Jon Smuts, Reeza Hendricks and David Miller.
The Indian Premier League offered encouraging signs as South African players impressed. Quinton de Kock was part of a championship-winning team for the second year in a row, and Kagiso Rabada followed up an impressive 2019 with a Purple Cap winning performance for the Capitals.
Faf du Plessis was a standout performer in an inconsistent Chennai Super Kings and demonstrated that he still has plenty to give as a batsman, and the Proteas could consider using him as an opener.
Others were afforded fewer opportunities, like Miller, who was run out without facing a ball in the only match he played for the Rajasthan Royals and Lungi Ngidi, who was punished for two very expensive no-balls in an early CSK match
A survey of the batting talent available to Boucher suggests he has all the pieces of the puzzle it is just a question of arranging them for maximum benefit. While among the bowlers it will be hard to decide who to leave out.
This is the season where the Proteas need to show that they are learning how to be winners again and the problems at board level only increase the pressure on team management who need to do the hard yards with the supporters.
Written by James Richardson.
