Players aligned with new skipper’s ideas – Boucher

SOUTH African coach Mark Boucher attributed his team’s success during the two-match Test series against the West Indies in St Lucia to players aligning with the thinking of skipper Dean Elgar.

The Proteas defeated the Kraigg Brathwaite-led West Indies by 158 runs in the second Test on Monday to make a clean sweep of the series. This is the first away series win in four years for the South Africans.

“The new captain (Elgar) asked a couple of questions about where we are and where we are going and where we want to be.

“Quite a few honest chats came out there as they do around a South African fire at night,” said Boucher, the former South African wicketkeeper who played 147 Tests and scored more than 5 500 runs.

“The guys all really bought into a process that he wanted to align his reign with. That’s where we all stood back and said we are either on the bus or not on the bus.

“Thankfully, everyone decided they were on the bus.

“And it doesn’t only work when you are on the field. A lot of effort has to be put in behind closed doors in the way we train, the way we talk, the language, the confidence. That is probably where it started. At that fire,” Boucher told ESPNcricinfo.

This was the Proteas’ maiden overseas victory since March 2017, but Boucher said it was too early to talk about the resurgence of South African cricket. He felt that to assess the team’s strength, it should be challenged properly.

“I am looking forward to the time where we get put under pressure and to see how we respond as a unit.

“That’s where we can judge where we really are.”

On Elgar’s style of captaincy, Boucher said that the skipper was striking a chord with the players and that was essential.

“The language he has been speaking is resonating with the players, so good on him for bringing that sort of language. This is what Test cricket is all about – being able to absorb pressure in certain stages and then being able to apply. Guys are becoming smarter at choosing those moments. It was impressive and it’s good to see that the leader is sending out a language and the guys are responding to it.”

While the team’s results in recent years have been poor, Boucher said the value of the lessons learnt in those defeats could n’t be underestimated.

“There are things that have taken place over the last couple of months that have been quite tough on certain guys. We had some good chats; the team was prepared to move forward as a unit after that.

“We’ve not played a lot of cricket, because of Covid, especially away from home, understandably. I’ve always believed, when you’ve got a young team, that the best place for them to actually learn how to play is in foreign conditions.

“There were a lot of lessons learnt although we didn’t win in Pakistan. We came here and the players knew the conditions were going to be tough.

“We had some good practices before the series … this is how you develop players by playing them in different conditions. This is where they start learning about their games, making little adjustments to their games that will hopefully turn them into a world class player one day,” Boucher explained.