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Mark Boucher

It is a measure of the rapidity of Mark Boucher’s rise that no-one is quite sure exactly how many cricketing records he currently holds. Fastest man to a 100 dismissals here, most innings without a bye over the road – they’ve tumbled out so quickly that it has been difficult to keep up. He also held the record for the highest score by a nightwatchman. Probably his most significant achievement, however, came in only his second Test match, his first on home soil, against Pakistan at the Wanderers in February 1998 when he and Pat Symcox put on 195 to set a new Test ninth-wicket partnership record. The real relevance of this feat lay not so much in its numbers, but in the fact that it was built with South Africa in desperate trouble at 166 for 8.

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Boucher had made his Test debut still short of his 21st birthday a few months previously when he was rushed to Sheikhupura to stand in for the injured Dave Richardson. He served his apprenticeship on South Africa’s 1997-98 tour of Australia, and took over as the first-choice keeper when Richardson retired at the end of that series. Boucher was not everyone’s first choice to succeed Richardson – Gauteng’s Nic Pothas had been waiting in the wings for some time – but once Boucher got his hands on the position, he refused to let it go. He found conditions in England difficult, both on the 1998 tour and during the 1999 World Cup, but he demonstrated courage, determination and nous in what became a run of 75 consecutive Tests before he was left out for the tour of India late in 2004. Those qualities brought him three Test hundreds in his first 25 Tests, and earmarked him as a possible future No. 5 or No. 6 batsman. He was also awarded the South African vice-captaincy when Shaun Pollock took over from Hansie Cronje, recognition of his willingness to get down and scrap when his team needs it – and he promised a scrap to regain the wicketkeeping gloves when a form dip eventually did cost him his place.

A brilliant, unbeaten 50 in the most thrilling one-day match ever – against Australia at Johannesburg on March 12 – saw South Africa chase down a record 434 with one wicket to go. In the ensuing three-Test series, displayed fine work behind the stumps and showed his love of a contest against Australia with two fantastic half-centuries and 175 runs at 35. Boucher kept decently in the two-Test series against Sri Lanka and played two gritty fifty-plus knocks even as South Africa fell 2-0. He was appointed captain for the ensuing tri-series also featuring India but played no part as South Africa withdrew after a bomb explosion in Colombo. Boucher was replaced as captain for a short home series against Zimbabwe but was his side’s highest run-scorer at the Champions Trophy in India. He remains a key component to the South African side in both forms of the game, his consistent batting allowing them another all-round option with plenty more challenges ahead as the team chase Australia at the top of the rankings. Against Pakistan in Karachi, 2007, he went past Ian Healy to claim the world record for the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper. He joined Jacques Kallis and Ashwell Prince in walking out on the Cobras in 2008 who chose not to pick the trio for their Pro20 season, but put all such issues behind him in England that summer, where he laid the demons of ten years earlier, and helped South Africa to their first series win in England of the post-Apartheid era.