Ken Borland

Proteas coach Mark Boucher says realistically it is going to take a while before South Africa are a top-class Test outfit again, but he is hoping his young team will play a streetwise and bold brand of cricket when they open their series against Sri Lanka at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Saturday.

Between the ‘Big Five’ of former captain Faf du Plessis (65), Dean Elgar (63), Quinton de Kock (47), Temba Bavuma (40) and Keshav Maharaj (30), there are 245 Test caps; the rest of South Africa’s expected starting XI will have just 38 caps, 20 of which belong to Aiden Markram.

Asked what his aspiration for the series was, Boucher said “I just want us to start winning and play a good brand of cricket. But we have to be very realistic, it’s difficult to stamp your authority when you’ve only played one or two Tests because players need to feel secure in their positions. A guy like Faf has a massive role to play in driving the way we want to play.

“If the seniors in the team can take the ‘risks’, so to say, almost show them the route, then the youngsters will see that and follow. We want to play aggressive but smart cricket. A guy like Quinton de Kock is naturally aggressive and we’ll bat him at five, a position where we feel he can be the most dangerous. The opposition will know they have to bowl the right lines to him,” Boucher said on Thursday.

While Boucher confirmed that the team will make “a meaningful gesture” in support of Black Lives Matter before the Test match, it is clear that he is being kept very busy trying to ensure the Proteas hit the ground running against Sri Lanka as they look to turn around their poor recent Test record, which stems from the 2-0 loss at home to the islanders in early 2019.

“I didn’t watch a lot of that series to be honest, but chatting to the guys a couple of them do have scars from it. The important takeaway is that we can’t just coast into this series. We have a young team, we are rebuilding but we are in conditions that will suit us. The important thing is for us to focus on what we can do and not worry about Sri Lanka. If we can hit our straps early on then we have a very good opportunity to win. The guys just want to get out there and play because that is the best way to improve yourself.”

Speaking about worry, Boucher admitted that there was some concern over the fitness of pace bowlers Lungi Ngidi and Glenton Stuurman.

“We have a couple of niggles which are a bit of a concern especially since they are bowlers. Lungi has not been feeling great and Glenton has a bad bruise. But both came through training today with flying colours. The idea was to push them two days before the game and if they wake up feeling good on Christmas Day then they will be available for selection,” Boucher said.