The Titans franchise on Monday morning unveiled former South African wicket-keeper Mark Boucher as its new head coach. Boucher replaces Rob Walter, who announced in June that he was moving to Otago in New Zealand to take up a coaching position with that province.
Boucher, 39, brings a wealth of playing experience to his new role having played 461 international matches for South Africa including 146 Tests - the second most for the Proteas behind his good mate Jacques Kallis who represented the country in 165 Tests.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to be given this opportunity to try something new in my career,” said Boucher, who besides some brief coaching stints, has not coached on a fulltime level. “It’s a challenge personally, that I’m looking forward. Coming into the Titans set up I understand that they are a very succesful franchise. There are a lot of fantastic players, a lot of Proteas players. Taking over from a guy like Rob Walter who was so successful is something I’m really excited about.”
Titans chief executive, Jacques Faul explained that the franchise was keen to employ someone “credible who could stand in front of a successful group of players and inspire them.”
“Mark Boucher is someone with a lot of experience as a cricketer, and we have the programmes here to help him develop as a coach and manager,” said Faul
Boucher’s career was sadly curtailed during South Africa’s tour of England when a bail struck him in his left eye.
He holds the record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in Tests - 555 (532 catches and 23 stumpings). His 424 dismissals in ODIs (402 catches and 22 stumpings) place him third on the all time list in that format behind Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Australia’s Adam Gilchrist. Boucher also has one Test wicket to his name having dismissed Dwayne Bravo in a 2005 Test against the West Indies in Antigua.
The Titans were South Africa’s most successful franchise last season, winning the RamSlam T20 competition and the four-day Sunfoil Series competition. – Independent Media