Following a convincing series defeat, Proteas head coach Mark Boucher astutely analyzed how South Africa went and laid out the plans for what’s to come next.

First of all, amid the disappointment, Boucher lauded the debutant of the series, left-arm spinning allrounder George Linde, for how well he stepped up to the international stage.

“Yes, there are positives. First, George Linde went really nicely and then Faf and Rassie had a successful series with the bat. We were playing against a very strong side and our bowlers were put to the test. Then again, it’s difficult to look at the positives whenever we lose 3-0.”

At the same time, he insisted that it’s time to leave the troubles behind for the time being and gradually shift focus to the next assignment: the ODIs. A 24-man squad was named to cover both formats, but over the course of the next three games, we’re likely to see a few new players take center stage.

“We have a slightly different squad for the ODIs and there will be a few fresh faces. It’s not a short journey by any means and getting tested like this has exposed our weaknesses and there’s room for improvement.”

“THAT’S HOW WE WANT TO GET TESTED” | MARK BOUCHER PRESS CONFERENCE

While it was largely a series to forget, it’s to be noted that South Africa didn’t have an international series in their itinerary since March.

As much as the lack of game time in the recent months might be a contributing factor to the downturn in form, Boucher insists that this isn’t a reason to justify the performances, but rather to embrace a fresh new start and ascendancy back to greater strength.

“There’s a bit of rustiness – we didn’t have an ideal preparation. A few of the warm-up games got cancelled. We did what we could with regards to training. But this isn’t any sort of excuse – we need to face the facts and the fact of the matter is that we lost all three games against a very strong side.

“We want to win, fans want us to win. It’s hard to apologize when you give it your level best, but then again England is well ahead of us at the moment. My message to the fans: we’ve done what we can and we’re putting in the hard yards to return to becoming a stronger force in world cricket.”

Another common motif in South Africa’s playing XI conundrum is the fact that the two incumbent allrounders were not able to take part in this series at all. Dwaine Pretorius left early due to an injury, and Andile Phehlukwayo was in isolation. While the former will not take part in the ODI series, we’re more likely to see the latter in the coming games.

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T20 cricket is often about balance and strategies. Considering the top six in each of the three games were specialist batsmen that didn’t really have a bowling option to offer, it was tough to fit all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle accordingly. Also, Boucher added that over the course of this series, South Africa played the best possible XIs out of the available players. 

“We didn’t have our allrounders due to various reasons. We didn’t have a sixth bowler. In T20s, one bowler normally goes for plenty and you need to have another option to cover for that. Plus we haven’t been experimenting – we’ve used the players we had.

“There were unfortunate circumstances that forced us to play combinations that weren’t so favourable but that’s what we had to do. Hopefully, we can have everyone ready for selection next time around.”

Over to the ODIs, Boucher has a more positive outlook, considering the fact that the Proteas swept a formidable Australia team 3-0 at home earlier this year. In that very series, we got to see youngsters like Kyle Verreynne and Lutho Sipamla, for example. There will be better times ahead, but the first goal will be rebuilding and bouncing back from a stiff loss of early momentum.

“The last ODI series was several months ago. We had some good success against Australia. At the moment I feel we have a good combination of experience and youth to select from. You have to base your selections on recent performances especially considering the fact that there’s been quite a gap between the last ODI series and now.”

Photo: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

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