It’s been an uneasy beginning to live as coach of the Proteas for Mark Boucher and his staff. Convincing defeats at the hands of first, England and now Australia, Mark is now under pressure to steady the ship ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year. He now faces probably the most difficult task in cricket now, to rebuild the Proteas team and get them playing consistently at the top level again.
It has been very difficult to watch as a fan as in most games SA has been horribly outplayed. When we win, the games have been close and could have gone either way but for the most part, when we have lost, it has been one-way traffic.
Batting has been the major problem this summer and for some years now. The batting unit has underperformed and the bowlers have carried the team for a while now. It looks as though that has taken its toll on the bowlers, as the bowlers in recent times have struggled to take wickets consistently.
This is certainly a transition phase for South African Cricket but most believed we could still be competitive through this period. I believe things will still get worse before they get better . I don’t think we have reached rock bottom yet but we are hurtling towards it at a rate of knots.
It’s difficult to put a finger on exactly where the problem is at the moment but with a new Director of Cricket and new Coaching staff, I think patience is needed. When Graeme Smith took over as DoC., he did say it will take time and that this will be a hard summer. You could point fingers at Cricket South Africa as they are responsible for overseeing all things cricket and their many issues over the last 18 months have been well documented. As fans in SA, we are a very impatient fan base.
We’ve been blessed through the years, having a side that for the most part could always compete and was always number one or two in the world. Those days seem long gone now and it’s time for the fans to get behind the boys even more now. I think they need us now, more than ever before!
