South Africa Head Coach Mark Boucher To Step Down After ICC T20I World Cup 2022
Ahead of the upcoming ICC T20I World Cup 2022, South Africa have received a huge blow as their head coach Mark Boucher has decided to vacate his post after the World Cup commitment.
Cricket South Africa (CSA) confirmed the development on Monday, while also revealing that a replacement will be named in due course.
This comes after the Proteas went down 1-2 in the Test series against England.
“Mr. (Mark) Boucher has decided to resign in order to pursue other opportunities in line with his future career and personal objectives. While Cricket SA greatly regrets that Boucher is unable to see out the term of his contract, it respects his decision and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours,” Cricket South Africa said in a statement.
Boucher has held the position of South Africa Men’s Head Coach since December 2019 and led the Proteas to 11 Test wins, including a memorable 2-1 series win against India at home in January 2022. The Proteas are also currently number two on the ICC World Test Championship table.
In the limited-overs arena, Boucher has helped South Africa claim victory in 12 One-Day Internationals, and 23 T20 International victories, the most recent being a historic 2-1 series triumph against England.
His last series at the helm will be a white-ball tour of India from September 28 to October 11 before heading to the T20 World Cup in Australia, where South Africa are grouped alongside Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The tournament will run from October 16 to November 13.
On Boucher’s decision to quit, CSA Chief Executive Officer Pholetsi Moseki commented: “We would like to thank Mark for the time and effort he has invested in South African cricket as the Head Coach over the past three years. He has helped navigate us through some rough waters following the departures of so many senior players through retirement and has helped lay some strong foundations for the next generation of Proteas.”
“We are extremely grateful to him for the work he has done and would like to wish him well with the next chapter of his career,” he added.