Australia ODI series win is not South Africa’s finished product, reveals Mark Boucher
Mark Boucher has admitted that the Proteas’ home ODI series victory against Australia was just the start of the process and not a finished product for the home team. He added that the sole motive of the series was to give chances to youngsters, giving them some time to settle in the team.
Boucher termed his side’s 3-0 ODI series victory over Australia as just the start of the process and not a complete product. He coined the series win ‘'light at the end of the tunnel,” with the last four series not going in the Proteas’ favour. Since Boucher took over, South Africa have lost a Test and T20I series against England before facing Australia. Against Australia in the T20I series, they succumbed to a 2-1 loss before finally winning the ODI series against the same opposition.
“Our performance against Australia was the light at the end of the tunnel but it's not that it's the finished product," he said, reported TOI.
"The exciting thing was in white-ball cricket, to see the guys grow a bit. We gave quite a lot of opportunities to youngsters and they started to gel as a team and not allow one particular guy to carry them through.”
The Proteas series against India was cut short due to COVID-19 after the first ODI at Dharamshala was washed out. Following that, the South African team flew straight back home from New Delhi before cricket around the globe came to a screeching halt.
"I don't think it has really disrupted our plans. We were always going to be having a break at this time. The plan was to give the guys some off time, to travel a bit, spend some time with the families, they are certainly spending some time with the families now but not traveling and there's time to get rid of a few niggles their bodies have picked up," he concluded.