Proteas: Mark Boucher to be named team director soon – reports

The appointment of Graeme Smith as Director of Cricket earlier this week appears to be the catalyst that will launch Mark Boucher’s international coaching career with the Proteas.

Despite achieving success at the helm of the Titans Boucher had previously been told he would not coach the Proteas unless he committed to adding to his qualifications.

As DOC, Smith has been given Carte Blanche to appoint his own technical team to take charge of the Proteas and it has been reported by SA Cricket Magazine that Boucher is in the final stages of negotiations ahead of taking up the role of team director.

Smith and Boucher played a big chunk of their Test careers together and have remained firm friends off the park.

Boucher is a popular figure among most South African cricket fans but he has his fair share of detractors. The former Proteas wicketkeeper was infamously stubborn on the field and will be determined to prove his doubters wrong.

Getting the Proteas band back together

Another member of the Proteas core under Smith, Jacques Kallis is believed to have agreed to take up a role as a consultant. Interim team director Enoch Nkwe will become assistant coach.

Cape Cobras coach and former Proteas captain Ashwell Prince is said to have declined a role in Smith’s technical team.

Boucher should be announced as team director before the weekend and would then get to work on preparations for the visit of England after the Mzansi Super League.

The Tshwane Spartans are competing in a playoff against the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants but Boucher, who is also the coach of the Centurion-based franchise, has not travelled to Port Elizabeth with the rest of the team and staff.

Boucher wants his coaching badges

In August of this year, Boucher said that he had never refused to upgrade his qualifications. The man who has been at the helm of the Titans for four years said that he missed two coaching conferences for valid reasons and has since been harrassed by the media over his assumed stance on coaching qualifications.

“I’ve always said I want to finish my stint here at the Titans and that’s where my focus is right now,” Boucher said when he applied for the vacant team director post in August.

“There are a lot of people who have said things about me in the media which I didn’t say and there’s a been a lot of abuse from certain media that’s come my way about me just trying to carry on and do my job over here.

“I think it’s unfair and it’s been a demotivating week for me. I’ve had a lot of people phoning me saying this and that‚ making accusations that I don’t want to grow in my coaching.

“The whole thing was about coaching conferences that came up and the two conferences that I missed‚ I had valid reasons for them. The first one‚ I was sorting out stuff for my marriage and the second one‚ we were informed quite late and I’d already got my stuff sorted for my conservation organisation. We had invited a whole lot of wealthy men into the bush to try to get funds for conservation. I couldn’t miss that.”