How long will Boucher last as Head Coach of the Proteas.

The following article reflects the level of discontent caused by Boucher's conduct as a coach and goes beyond the general  public and the media into the present and past players:-

 “We can make as much noise as we want as former players‚ media‚ fans or whatever but ultimately it depends on Graeme Smith.

“Unfortunately‚ Mark Boucher and Graeme Smith have a very good and friendly relationship since their playing days and it is highly unlikely that S South African cricket fans should make peace with the idea of being stuck with Mark Boucher as head coach of the Proteas for much longer.

This is the view of former Proteas Test opener Alviro Petersen, who said the good and friendly relationship the duo enjoy makes it almost impossible for Graeme Smith to fire Boucher.  

Petersen played alongside Smith and Boucher in the Proteas team between 2005 and 2015, and he said the pair have been friends since their playing days.   

There have been growing calls for Boucher to be sacked following the Proteas’ dismal performances in recent weeks, including ODI and T20 series defeats to Pakistan this month.   

And Petersen said while everyone is allowed to share their opinion on what should happen, Smith, a good friend of Boucher, will still have the final say.  

“In terms of pressure on Boucher‚ I think there has been a lot on him but we are not in a position to make changes,” said Petersen as per TimesLIVEmith will fire his friend,” he said.  

“Unfortunately, that is the position that we are in as a cricketing country and we have to deal with that,” added Petersen."

Boucher can still save himself  from being fired by starting to select  players  om merit and forget about his elderly friends - where performances are ignored and real team building for the future is absent,     What is happening to him is exactly what happened to Coetzee as Springbok coach so friendship ties with Smith - whose position could also be in danger - may not save him.   

The only thing that stands between Boucher  and firing is the T20I World Cup in India,  A repeat of the 2019 disaster will inevitably lead to him being fired - whether  he is Smith's friend or not.           

Boucher accepted blame for the Proteas disasters against Pakistan and he is 100% correct for accepting those because in the main iro selecting duds to play for the Proteas.    The media , cricket-loving supporters, players and ex-players themselves are spitting mad about the team selection  and the Verreynne disaster set off a  spate of criticism - but was not the only flop in selections.    Retaining disasters like Smuts and Van Biljon in squads instead of bringing in younger more competent players left a bad taste in the mouth of many,   His selection of Elgar as captain of the test side  because of his Titans link was also a disastrous selection and his selection of Klaasen as  interim captain of the ODI and T20I  teams  was a contributing factor ti the losses of the series,  

Klaasen has an iffy record as an ODI player and a good one  as a T20I player,    The latter is partly due  to  the fact that if Klaasen is not lucky - he is routinely out for small scores because his batting technique is poor.     That is why his batting in ODO's are tests are substandard.

What is also seriously wrong is that younger players are brought into the squads - but practically never used in matches where older failures are retained despite the fact that most of the older players fail to perform on international level.    The exceptions were -

*     Verreynne was allowed to play in one match and was very good  and despite that  was never given another chance to play;

*     Dupivalon  was given a few  opportunities and  failed in all of those.   

Return of players who failed repeatedly is the norm at present.     The list of such failed players is long and there are examples  of failures in squad in itself is totally wrong and it seems .that despite the repeated failures  of the team  his failed to hit home/

In a way it seems that Boucher is  aspiring to be a worse coach than Meyer and Coetzee were as  Springbok coaches,    The similarities between those two coaches and Boucher is numerous and in the main center on team selection.     Maybe it would help to Boucher to seek help from Erasmus who saved SA Rugby from disaster and led the Springboks to become world  champions.

At present he is  well on his way to a disastrous end to his national coaching  career,