Titans coach Mark Boucher defends out-of-form Amla‚ Cook and Duminy

Former South Africa’s wicketkeeper Mark Boucher has defended Proteas batsmen Hashim Amla‚ JP Duminy and Stephen Cook after their struggles during the recent tour of New Zealand.

South Africa won the three-match Test series against the Black Caps 1-0 after two matches were washed out in Dunedin and Hamilton.

Amla scored 153 runs at an average of 30.60 and the highest score of 50.

This is a modest return for a player who is widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of his generation.

“There is nothing much that one can give in terms of advice to Hashim (Amla) because he is such a great player‚" the Titans coach Boucher said.

"But what I can say is that class is permanent and form is temporary.

"He is a classy player and he will eventually come through. He is one of the guys you need to stick with because a big knock is always around the corner with him.”

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Duminy only scored 104 runs in his six innings against the Black Caps with the highest score of 39 and an average of 20.20.

Opener Cook disappointed with a return of 17 runs in his four innings with the highest score of eleven.

“With regards to JP‚ he won’t be over the moon with the way his tour went. But he is a good player.

"If we had guys in the system who were really standing out to replace him then I would say it’s OK to drop him.

"He gives us spin options and there are no middle order batsmen in the country who are outscoring him.”

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With regards to Cook‚ who was dropped for the third Test in Hamilton for Theunis de Bruyn‚ Boucher admitted that the Lions opener is struggling but deserves another opportunity.

“He hasn’t done too badly but unfortunately he has gone through a rough patch with form and that doesn’t make him a bad player.

"Unfortunately if you go through a poor run like that‚ you are under pressure and there are questions about your position in the team.

"Hopefully he comes right and maybe he needs a bit of domestic cricket again just to find his form.

"Let’s not forget that he has just come off a great series of Sri Lanka. But it is a cut throat business and if you don’t get the runs people will say your time has come.

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"I don’t think his time has come‚ he just needs to do a couple of technical adjustments and he will be back in the running to get his spot back."

Boucher also questioned the rationale by the selectors and coach Russell Domingo of choosing De Bryun to replace Cook at the top to partner Dean Elgar in the third Test.

“I am not a selector but one thing that I must say is that it is a little bit strange that they selected a guy who is a middle order batsman to open the batting for South Africa.

"It was a strange selection for me‚ especially given the fact that a guy like Heino Kuhn has scored runs season after season for the Titans as an opening batsman and he has not been looked at.

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"These are questions that need to be asked and I will certainly be asking them‚ we have two openers here at the Titans that I reckon can do the job in a very good way.”

“Theunis (De Bruyn) scored a lot of runs batting in the middle order and if there was a place for him in the South African side is in the middle of the order and I think we threw him to the wolves by putting him in the top order.

"I don’t think that he was properly equipped with technique to go out there and open the batting.”

- TMG Digital/TMG Sport