South Africa’s Test captain, Dean Elgar, has voiced his support for the embattled head coach, Mark Boucher, as the former cricketer faces a Cricket South Africa (CSA) disciplinary hearing on charges of gross misconduct and racism that could result in his removal from the job.
Boucher was accused of racism by former teammate Paul Adams and of sidelining his former assistant coach, Enoch Nkwe. However, the Proteas head coach denied both allegations.
On Wednesday, February 2, Elgar said that the South African cricket team will show "support" for Boucher, as the hearings have been postponed by the CSA to May 2022 in order to allow the Proteas players to testify at the request of Boucher's legal team.
CSA wanted the hearings to be held next month after South Africa's Test tour of New Zealand, starting February 17, but they postponed it to the week of May 16 at the request of Boucher's legal team.
Notably, South Africa is slated to host Bangladesh in a bilateral series in March.
Elgar told reporters before departing for New Zealand: “Cricket comes first for us, irrespective of what our head coach is going through. But we are supporting him through this process because we know how much value he adds to our system and our group. He is a massive part of it.”
He added, “It is just another hurdle in our path that we have to get over. We need to stick together, which we have done in the past, and let this process follow its course.”
The Test skipper denied having any knowledge of which players would be called to testify in the matter.
He signed off by saying, “We only heard about it today, we haven't heard anything else. I doubt it will affect the team; this process has been up in the air for some time now. We had a feeling it might come to this point where players would be asked to testify, and so be it.”
(With Reuters Inputs)
