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Boucher: Proteas captaincy issue will be resolved after Pakistan tour

Mahlatse Mphahlele Sports reporter
Proteas head coach, Mark Boucher during the South African national cricket team training session at Eurolux Boland Park on December 03, 2020 in Paarl, South Africa.
Proteas head coach, Mark Boucher during the South African national cricket team training session at Eurolux Boland Park on December 03, 2020 in Paarl, South Africa.
Image: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

South Africa coach Mark Boucher has confirmed that a decision on the touchy Proteas captaincy issue will be sorted out once and for all when they return from their tour of Pakistan.

The Proteas are currently playing in the second Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi with Quinton de Kock as stand-in captain after he came in when Faf du Plessis stepped down from the role in February last year.

In his short stint as stand-in captain De Kock led Proteas to a 2-0 series whitewash over Sri Lanka and South Africa are currently 1-0 down to Pakistan in their two-match series.

“He has been given the extra burden of being captain – that can be tough and it is something that he is not used to‚” Boucher said‚ adding that there is no need for people to panic about the situation.

“The good side of that is that when we get back home after this tour we have a bit of time now before our next Test series.

“We can sit down and probably make a good solid call on who will take over from him‚ release him from that burden going forward and hopefully try and get the best out of him.

“It wasn’t really a consideration to make extreme decisions during a tour‚ especially a Test series. I don’t think it’s time for panic but it’s time for us to sort of get closer as a unit and make some good and solid calls and hopefully understand that if guys put up good performances we will be in a better position to win Test matches.”

Boucher went on to say that De Kock cannot be blamed for South Africa’s heavy loss in the first Test in Karachi.

“It’s difficult to just put it to one person‚ especially a talent like Quinny. It is not his fault that we are in this situation where we are 1-0 down in this series.

“Some poor cricket we played on day one in Karachi is the reason why we are 1-0 down at the moment.”

He also explained that De Kock did not have the captaincy forced on him.

“He wasn’t forced to take the captaincy. It was a conversation that we had with him and he said he will do it in the interim while we sort of have a look what other names we throw into the pot for captaincy.

“Obviously if you are not scoring runs it sort of gets highlighted‚ especially when you are captain‚ but we are not that harsh on Quinny in this environment. We know that he is a quality player and there is a good innings around the corner for Quinny.”