Johannesburg — Dean Elgar has bemoaned the lack of attention given to the success the Proteas men’s side have had lately amidst the on-going controversy over head coach Mark Boucher.
The national side’s captain said on Wednesday all the focus in South African cricket had been taken away from the team’s achievements on the field and described that as “bullshit.” “I know it is relevant, and as players we understand that, but as a players group we have achieved so much but it gets squashed by negativity,” Elgar commented.
On the eve of South Africa’s departure for New Zealand for a two match Test series, Elgar said they would be leaning on the players union, the SA Cricketers Association, for advice as to what steps they take with regard to Boucher’s disciplinary hearing.
On Tuesday, the chair of that hearing, Adv. Terry Motau said the hearing would take place from May 16. Cricket SA, which is seeking Boucher’s dismissal, citing “gross misconduct,” wanted it to take place in March, but Boucher’s legal team said he would be calling some of the current Proteas players to testify on his behalf, and thus they couldn’t afford to be distracted with a series against Bangladesh starting in the third week of March.
“We had a feeling it might come to this point where players might be asked to testify - so be it,” said Elgar. “ It is something that we will chat about as a group. Whether or not it affects the team, I doubt it. This process has been in the air for some time now. We’ll cover that ground in the next month. We do have some time until May, to establish some concrete grounds for players, with regards to the players’ representatives (Saca) who will assist us through this process if players are asked to testify.”
The chief executive of Saca, Andrew Breetzke said he was not aware yet that any player had been approached to testify at the Boucher hearing. “Our role is to protect players and serve their best interests. This is not an ideal situation that they find themselves in relative to a disciplinary hearing. In protecting them, we will give them the necessary legal and moral support in that process,” said Breetzke.
Elgar said the Proteas had grown accustomed to the constant drama generated by controversies off the field and had learned how to not allow it to affect their performances on it, citing the recent successes against India as an example. He also said the players continued to support Boucher as coach.
“We’ve had these tough times before, it’s just another hurdle in our path that we will have to get over and previously we’ve gotten over it pretty well,” said Elgar.
“We need to stick together, which we’ve done and let this process follow its course, we are there to play cricket, win matches and win series’s which is ultimately the way that I do it. In the same breath we are still supporting our head coach because he’s a massive part of our group.”
Revised South African squad:
Dean Elgar (capt), Temba Bavuma (vice-capt), Sarel Erwee, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Lutho Sipamla, Glenton Stuurman, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne (wkt).
IOL Sport