Mark Boucher to step down as South Africa coach after T20 World Cup 2022

Mark Boucher to step down as South Africa coach after T20 World Cup 2022: South African Men’s cricket team head coach Mark Boucher is set to bid goodbye to his coaching role in the team after the completion of the T20 World Cup 2022. The development has been ratified by Cricket South Africa (CSA) on Monday.

“Mr Boucher has decided to resign in order to pursue other opportunities in line with his future career and personal objectives. While Cricket SA greatly regrets that Mr Boucher is unable to see out the term of his contract, it respects his decision and wishes him all the best in his future endeavours,” a statement from Cricket South Africa said.

“We are deeply saddened by Mark’s decision to leave us but we also understand and respect his wishes. He is a Proteas legend and has done so much for the game in our country, both on the field and over the last three years off it, which we highly appreciate,” CSA Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe said.

Boucher, who assumed the charge on December 2019, had the official contract with Cricket South Africa (CSA) till the World Cup 2023. However, to pursue other opportunities, he has decided to end his role with the national cricket board.

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Under him, South Africa has won 11 Test matches, including a 2-1 victory against India. He also led his side to the edge of the T20 World Cup 2021 semi-finals. 

Notably, there are talks that Mark Boucher has been approached by a few teams for a coaching role in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as well as in the newly launched CSA T20. As per the reports, Boucher has a few lucrative job offers from the IPL itself and is believed to have accepted one of them. However, further negotiations are underway from both ends.

As of now, it can’t be ascertained whether Boucher has accepted the offer to coach the IPL side or a team in CSA T20 League, or perhaps in both. That development still remains to be seen.

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