Boucher on whether his off-field issues affected SA: 'My personal stuff stays personal'

Proteas coach Mark Boucher has admitted the performances of the team over the first two days of the first Test against New Zealand in Christchurch lacked energy and had been disappointing.

The Proteas are staring down the barrel of a huge and embarrassing defeat inside three days, trailing New Zealand by 353 runs.

SA, who scored 95 runs in their first innings, have been reduced to 34-3 in the second innings after a poor return of two runs from top three batters Dean Elgar (0), Sarel Erwee (0) and Aiden Markram (2).

SA will resume on day three on Saturday with Rassie van der Dussen on 9 and Temba Bavuma on 22 and faced with a mountain to climb to get the team back in the game.

“It has been a tough two days and extremely disappointing, especially after the series we had against India,” Boucher said at stumps.

“There was high expectation from everyone and we have not come out with the energy expected of us. As coaches we will keep on going back and looking at how we can best prepare players for tours.

“It is a funny one and I haven’t really put my finger on it at the moment, but I can see that the energy is not where it is supposed to be.

“We lost the toss and fell behind after the first session and we have not been able to get back in the game in all departments. Our batting, bowling and fielding have been very disappointing.”

Boucher took SA into the two-match Test series despite allegations of “gross misconduct” hanging over his head and he didn’t want to comment on whether his off-field issues are affecting the team.

Some Proteas players are expected to be called to testify in Boucher's hearing and the coach had said he might ask some to appear.

“I can’t answer for the players [and whether they are going to testify] — you know my stance on this issue and my personal stuff stays personal.

"There is a process that is going on at the moment and we will leave it at that.”

The Proteas' opening partnership of Elgar and Makram have failed to impress in the past few matches, and for this series the captain was partnered with Erwee, but with no success in the opening Test.

“Lack of confidence, sometimes you go through bad periods in your game. I think the wickets we have been playing on have been tough, especially for opening batters with the new ball," Boucher said about the new partnership's struggles so far.  

“There are a few different things that we can add to that, but the personal performances of certain guys are not where they are supposed to be and that has definitely added to it.

“The batting line-up we went with, we felt that the opening berth was something we needed to look at. Erwee has been in the line-up for some time, he has been on a few tours and he has been waiting.

“We felt that was the position where we needed to get another guy in. The sixth batter option, we decided to go with 'Zubs' (Zubayr Hamza) and that’s how we felt the line-up should be.”

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