SA players have stomach problems but Boucher is not worried

KARACHI: South Africa head coach Mark Boucher on Monday said that some of his players had stomach problems but there was nothing serious or any injury concerns ahead of their first Test against Pakistan which begins here at the National Stadium on Tuesday (today).

“My knowledge of the sub-continent is that these things happen overnight with stomachs and all those things. There have been a couple of guys who have struggled to get the food down but there is nothing serious or injury concerns and guys will be selected from the full squad for the first Test,” Boucher told a virtual news conference.

Although most of the touring South African players do not have the experience of playing in Pakistan they are lucky to have Boucher who visited Pakistan three times as a player. This is the first time that he will be handling Proteas as the head coach on Pakistan’s soil.

South Africa last visited Pakistan way back in 2007. During that tour, the South Africans played in October in Karachi when conditions were hot. Now it is a bit cool here. And Boucher knows this. “Not only is the weather a lot cooler, the conditions are completely different to what I saw in the past. There is a lush green outfield and in South Africa when it’s cooler the pitches are slower and that is something we have seen here,” Boucher said.

He said there will be turn on the wicket. “The conditions are not what we thought they would be. We talked about reverse swing but having gone to the ground recently because of security measures we found that the outfield was very green and moist. I don’t know how potent reverse swing will be but looking at the wicket and how Pakistan have picked their team, it’s definitely going to turn. There is not going to be a lot of assistance for seamers,” the former Test stumper said.