Head coach Mark Boucher is not ignoring the fact that poor results have increased the pressure on his ambitions to turn the Proteas into a dominant cricketing force again.
Another series defeat by Pakistan on Friday added to ever-growing concern about Boucher’s ability to get the Proteas back to winning ways.
Since taking over as coach back in December 2019, the Proteas have won one out of three Test series, won one out of three ODI series and lost all five T20I series under Boucher’s watch.
‘We’ve lost a couple of series. There’s been reasons for that. I’m not going to make any excuses. We’ve still got to try and win with whatever side we put out on the park. It has been quite tough but there’s a lot of positives,’ Boucher said after Friday’s final T20I in Centurion.
‘I’ve got a fair idea of the enlarged squad we can look at. I’m pretty sure every player in that squad will be able to match international standards. If I had to worry about public opinion I probably would have hanged myself a long time ago. The pressure is going to be there, no matter what. When you get to this level you must expect that. If you can’t handle it maybe you get out of the kitchen.’
The consequences of player unavailability in the shorter formats against Pakistan, both earlier this year and with the recent tour, also didn’t help the former Proteas wicketkeeper’s cause with fairly inexperienced sides taking the field.
With the T20 World Cup on the horizon, Boucher and his management team will have to fine-tune the Proteas’ preparations in the months to come.
Boucher also admitted that the task at hand against a quality Pakistan outfit proved deciding on some of those inexperienced players in the squad.
‘We can see the next group of players are a little bit rough around the edges. They perform well in certain pockets of the game. But in international cricket you’ve got to have more of an all-round, polished game in order to win,’ he added.
