Excitement high as Proteas soak up history

MARK Boucher says passion and emotion are running high in the Proteas camp ahead of the first Test against England starting at Lord’s tomorrow.

The venue has certainly evoked a lot of wonder in what is a relatively young Proteas team, some of whom, made a first visit to the sport’s traditional home for Sunday’s training session.

“It’s a great occasion,” said Boucher of playing at Lord’s, where he played in two Tests in 1998 and 2003.

“This is where legends are made. In the changeroom you see all the names on the (honours) board. There are so many stories around those performances.

“There shouldn’t be a fear factor. It’s just about us as coaches, giving guys certain tools to deal with the pressures and emotions that you will feel on the first morning.

“You can’t hide from it, they will be there. It’s a great feeling, especially if you can overcome that and do well.”

Until the 2017 Test match, South Africa had an exceptional postisolation record at Lord’s - winning four out of five Tests at the historic venue.

“We were very privileged to have a trip to the museum, and all the players were just in awe at what was around them. Just watching the players reaction when walking into Lord’s there was a lot of passion and emotions are running high - in a good way,” said Boucher.

Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and captain Dean Elgar, who also led the team five years ago at Lord’s, are the only survivors from that 211-run defeat.

The likes of Lungi Ngidi and Rassie van der Dussen would have played there in 2019 at the World Cup, while Simon Harmer has played there for Essex, while Keegan Petersen got a feel for the place during a match for Durham earlier this year. Still a Test match is a tense occasion, particularly one at such a storied venue.

“The emotion of playing at the home of cricket - it is a different feeling, when you walk through those gates. That's not to say any other ground is not that special, but there is an extra sense of the specialness when you walk into Lord’s,” Boucher added.

Boucher explained that the team, in keeping with its philosophy to be frank and forthright with one another, had talked about what playing at Lord’s might be like.

“We’ve got a nice environment where we are pretty open and honest about certain things, certain emotions and feelings the players might be going through, and that is something we have addressed ...

“We’ve been successful here, and maybe we can look at that and, hopefully, there are memories to be created. They’d like to be a part of that. It’s a nice position for me as coach to be in, because you don’t have to get the boys worked up for this game, they’ll be there naturally.”