Cricket where there was chaos

“We trust that the right decisions will get made if something does happen. They’ve assured us they will look after us.” - Mark Boucher on security arrangements for South Africa’s tour to Pakistan.

Telford Vice | Cape Town

MARK Boucher stood in the chaos spread across the floor of his bedroom in his parents’ home in East London. To this side were bats, pads, thigh pads, gloves and boxes. To the other were wicketkeeping gloves and pads, inners, caps, hats, whites and tracksuits. Balls hid in plain sight, ready to twist unsuspecting ankles. Somewhere in between all that was a kit coffin. An empty kit coffin, and that wasn’t not good.

It was the middle of the morning. By the afternoon Boucher would be on a plane. To Pakistan. Dave Richardson had broken a finger and he had been called up to make his Test debut. Best he get packing …

That was more than 23 years ago, and much has changed. Then, Boucher had a lifestyle in keeping with the fact that he was two months shy of his 21st birthday. On Thursday, he rose briefly from his seat during an online press conference. He was back in view seconds later with an explanation: “Sorry - my laaitjie [youngster] just came in.”

Boucher is again packing for Pakistan. Now South Africa’s coach, on Friday he will be part of the first squad from his country to go there in more than 13 years. They will play Tests in Karachi — from January 26 — and Rawalpindi followed by three T20Is, all in Lahore. Boucher will no doubt tell his players stories about his experiences in Pakistan. Like the time, during his debut in Sheikhupura, a delivery from Mushtaq Ahmed rattled through Pat Symcox’s stumps without dislodging a bail. Others’ tales of Pakistan are all this generation of South Africa’s players have to go on because none of them has been there, discounting Faf du Plessis’ brief spell with PSL outfit Peshawar Zalmi in November. Cricketers’ kryptonite — the real world — kept the international game out of Pakistan from 2009 to 2015. But security in the politically fractious country has improved enough to allow three Tests, eight ODIs and 17 T20Is to played in the past five years.

“Safety is a major concern,” Boucher said. “A lot of guys have gone over there to do a recce of the situation and they’ve come back and said it’s safe. We need to get back in there and start playing cricket. We trust that the right decisions will get made if something does happen. They’ve assured us they will look after us. I think we’re getting state security, which is good for us. It’s about getting out there and playing games of cricket and letting people do their jobs around us.”

Boucher played five Tests and 10 ODIs in Pakistan from 1997 to 2007. He said an interesting challenge awaited the South Africans on the field. “It’s tough cricket. It’s different to the other sub-continent countries that you go to. Usually when you go to India, the ball turns a lot. In Pakistan, we haven’t been in games where the ball’s turned a lot. It’s conducive to fast bowling, actually. Reverse swing was very big in those days. The rules and regulations are a lot tighter nowadays on the ball and getting it to reverse, so I don’t know that you are going to see a lot of that.”

Pakistan’s contrasts extended to the basics of playing the game. “The areas that you score in are different, the bowlers bowl straighter lines, the ball starts to reverse, which is something a lot of our batters probably would never have seen, especially in a young group. So there is a lot of adapting to those conditions you have to do as a batter. But it’s one of those places where you’re up against a good bowling line-up, and if you apply your mind to batting and spend some good time at the crease, there’s a lot of runs out there.”

He couldn’t offer much on Pakistan as a place. “The last time we were there we weren’t really allowed out of the hotel. So I don’t see it as being any different to that. The whole message from me to the team is that cricket hasn’t been played in Pakistan for quite some time, and it’s been missed in that country. There won’t be crowds but there will be big hype about a big country coming to play cricket there again. We’ve got to buy into that and put on a good show for everyone in Pakistan.”

And for South Africa to do their bit to put Pakistan back on world cricket’s map of major destinations. “It’s got its own brand of cricket. I used to watch the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis running in and reverse swinging the ball. To actually get out there in my first Test and face it was very foreign to me. So it’s very important that we get back to playing in Pakistan.”

Not including South Africa’s abandoned tour to India in March, this will be the first time they have embarked on a venture abroad under the fully-blown pandemic. The complications caused by Covid-19 could force the visitors to name a weakened squad for the T20s, in which it seems they will be coached by Enoch Nkwe, Boucher’s assistant. “Logistically it is a bit of a nightmare, especially with a new squad coming in maybe a little earlier. And the two having to mix and bubbles crossing over. We are preparing for most of our management to come back and maybe one or two of them staying over.

“I would say it won’t be our strongest team because the emphasis is probably on Test cricket against Australia [who are due in South Africa for three Tests in February and March]. It might be a watered down Proteas T20 team, but that’s not a bad thing. It’s not ideal to throw guys into the deep end and make them play international cricket when they’re maybe not ready, but there aren’t many other choices at the moment.”

The lack of options might extend to South Africa’s living arrangements, what with teams in Australia trapped on a single floor of their hotels. But things may be better than that in Pakistan. “I know our security officers are looking at a club next door to the hotel, where there’s a pool, a gym and a field where the guys can run around.”

Still, previous experiences of Asia will stand the South Africans in good stead. “We’re used to spending tours in hotels almost in a lockdown scenario in the sub-continent. We’ve got a games room to try and keep the guys interested. Netflix has become a bit of a winner with the guys laying in their rooms watching a few things.

“We’re expecting nothing different from touring in the sub-continent. You stay in your own room for most of the time and there’s always a team room available. The difficult part is there’s a lot of testing going on. The first couple of days you’ve got to self-isolate. We’ve done it before and it was very successful [during the home Test series against Sri Lanka in the past three weeks]. We’ll make it work. We have to: it’s important that we get cricket back onto the TVs again.”

Boucher said his players had enjoyed their respite from that kind of regimen in the time they had away from the game after the Sri Lanka series. “They’ve been allowed to go home. But we were given a stern chat by the doctors that we needed to look after ourselves. We’ve had two [coronavirus] tests before we leave for Pakistan. We told the guys to try stay away from big crowds. As long as they spend time with families and they do it in a good environment and follow the government regulations, that’s the only thing you can really do. You can’t put them in a jail cell for the whole year.”

Boucher looked assured, in control and ready for action as he spoke. He’s learnt a lot in the past 23 years. Including how to leave yourself enough time to bundle the chaos into your luggage.

First published by Cricbuzz.