Name:

Boucher, Mark V

Date of Birth:

03 Dec 1976

Gender:

Men

Place of Birth:

East London

Career:

Test: 1997 - 2012
ODI: 1998 - 2011
T20: 2005 - 2010
First Class: 1995 - 2012

Teams:

South Africa (Country)

Boucher forced to quit cricket after severe eye injury

Mark Boucher: Wicketkeeping record holder had abrupt end to career

Mark Boucher was born on December 3, 1976 in East London, Cape Province. He was a wicket keeper and technically correct middle order batsman.

After making his first class debut in 1995, Boucher started his international career in October 1997 in Sheikhupura against Pakistan in the 2nd Test.

Boucher succeeded Dave Richardson as South Africa's first choice wicketkeeper in early 1998 and, barring a brief spell in 2004 when he was dropped, he held that role until he retired.

He was in a prime position to observe the match fixing that went on under the captaincy of Hansie Cronje in the late 1990s. In his autobiography, Boucher spoke of his teammates' private anger when Cronje orchestrated a stunning match fix when he declared at 0-0 in a rain-marred Test against England in Pretoria to set up a last day run chase which England managed.

"I must be honest - I thought it was a terrible idea. Kallis also thought it was wrong and so did Klusener. The feeling among the junior section of the dressing room was that Test matches are never, ever to be messed with. You never give your opponents a sniff of victory in Tests unless you are desperate to win yourselves. There was a simmering atmosphere of anger.''

His longevity over a 15-year career period has been matched only by Pakistan's Wasim Bari and Deryck Murray of the West Indies, of wicketkeepers of the modern era.

Boucher was forced to retired from international cricket after suffering a severe eye injury during his country’s tour match against Somerset in 2012. He was hit in the eye by a flying bail after keeping upto the stumps to a Imran Tahir delivery that bowled the batsman

Boucher represented South Africa in 147 Tests. He was the first wicket-keeper to take 500 catches in Test cricket and is the current record holder for most dismissals - 555. He has 998 victims in all international cricket comprised of 952 catches and 46 stumpings. He also took a catch in the outfield when AB de Villiers was keeping.

He was a handy batsman, scoring five Test hundreds. He scored 5,515 runs in all, second only to Adam Gilchrist among keepers, at a healthy average of 30.3.

In retirement, Boucher has taken up coaching and was appointed as the head coach of the Titans in 2016.

Source: CricketCrowd Staff Reporter