Mark Boucher relishes win in debut Test as South Africa coach and ranks it as one of the best Test wins of his life.
Cricket South Africa was left in turmoil till a few days back as there was no coordination in the performance of the players as well as in the administration. After a major revamp, Graeme Smith was announced as the director of Cricket South Africa and former wicket-keeper Mark Boucher was appointed as the coach of the national side.
England’s tour to South Africa was the first series since the new announcements. The hosts beat England by 107 runs to break their five-Test losing streak. Boucher rated it as one of the best in his life.
He said, “I’ve played quite a few Test matches and we won a couple of good ones but certainly this is up there, especially from where we have come. It has been a hectic two weeks, we’ve put in a lot of hard work as a coaching staff, so this is a reward. I’m also very happy for the players and the way they approached it.”
“We said before we wanted to instill some confidence back in the players and to see them walk off the field with a win you can see now there is a belief that we can win Test matches against very good teams,” he added.
South Africa has won the first Test but Boucher has set his goals on a long term aim and he aims to work on it. “We understand there is a long way to go. We’ve got a couple of youngsters we need to impart knowledge to and speed up the process of becoming experienced cricketers and we’ll certainly do that,” he said.
The 43-year-old considers it an honor to be walking into the dressing room again and being a part of the South African team management.
He said, “I’ve been out of international cricket for quite some time now so it’s an honor for me to walk back into that changing room and be part of hopefully a change in South African cricket. There’s been quite a few changes but the spirit and passion are still there. I’m looking forward to the challenge and working hard with the guys and seeing them develop.”
(Inputs from Reuters)
