We knew, even if nothing had been confirmed, that Mark Boucher’s tour was over once he was taken to hospital yesterday. We hoped that he might recover in time to play again but unfortunately, his eye injury is so severe he has had to announce his retirement from international cricket.
A statement read by captain Graeme Smith talked about his pain and sadness, ending with the words, “I wish the team well in the UK, as I head home and onto a road of uncertain recovery”. Already, you get the impression that he may not play again at any level and perhaps fears for the sight in his left eye.
With a much-loved friend on his way home and tributes being paid from around the world, his erstwhile team-mates must have found it at least slightly difficult to focus fully on events in Taunton…
…today though, it wasn’t really about the result.
Boucher played 461 times for South Africa in 146 Tests, 290 ODIs and 25 T20Is, captaining his country on five occasions, effecting more dismissals in Tests than any other wicket-keeper, scoring the second fastest ODI century of all time and taking a Test wicket.
He might not be the purest glove man you’ll ever see but he was gritty, doughty and a man you wanted on your side. You only have to witness the outpouring of support from team-mates and opponents to realise the regard in which he was held within the game.
Three of his five Test centuries came in 1999 – one apiece against the West Indies, Zimbabwe, and then England as he and Gary Kirsten stalled Nasser Hussain’s men in Durban. Kirsten might have scored 275 but I remember Boucher’s efforts in saving the game as being just as important, with little batting to come behind him.
When England toured again in 2004/5, Boucher was left out for the first three Tests, Thami Tsolekile and de Villiers taking over behind the stumps. For whatever reason in that series, South Africa didn’t seem too keen on picking their best team and it wasn’t until it was too late that Boucher was reintroduced, scoring a half-century in the fourth Test. Those are the three missing Tests he might point to should he feel aggrieved at not making it to 150 in his career.
He kept to some of the best too: Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Dale Steyn and even Muttiah Muralitharan in one game for the ICC World XI against Australia in 2005. In 2006, he would make history of a different kind, smashing a 44-ball century against Zimbabwe after guiding South Africa past a target of 435 to beat Australia in ‘that’ game in Johannesburg.
He deserved a more dignified exit, but then sport can be a cruel beast sometimes.
This post is an extract from John Pennington’s as-yet-untitled book detailing South Africa’s tour of England. It will follow a similar format as his ‘546 Runs Were Enough’, his retrospective on the 2009 Ashes series, where England’s ascent to the top of the world really began. South Africa on form could be the team to knock them off their perch…