Mark Boucher charged with gross misconduct amid racism row

Onecricket

Cricket South Africa (CSA) publicly laid gross misconduct charges on the men's national team head coach Mark Boucher after he was accused of racism last year by his former teammate Paul Adams.


As Social Justice and Nation-Building (SJN) looked into the allegations made by Adams, a 235-page interim report was submitted in December that included big names of Proteas cricket such as Boucher and AB de Villiers. 


"While Mr Boucher is being charged with gross misconduct, which could lead to his dismissal, CSA emphasises it is important that the independent inquiry first needs to test all allegations before any question of sanction can arise," CSA released a statement.


Following the findings, Senior Counsel Advocate Terry Motau has been appointed as the chairperson of the disciplinary hearing and he will lead the charges of misconduct laid on the Proteas’ head coach.  


"The Board remains mindful of its duty to treat allegations of racism or discrimination with the utmost seriousness and in a manner that ensures fairness and due process in terms of South Africa's Constitution and labour legislation," CSA Board Chairperson Lawson Naidoo said as quoted by the Times of India.


"It is now up to the inquiry to determine to which extent the allegations are true and justify the need for further disciplinary steps. CSA emphasises that any implicated party will be given a fair opportunity to be heard so that finality can be achieved," Naidoo added.


While Boucher emphasised focusing on the role of head coach, he asserted that the allegations directed at him will be dealt with in due course of time.


"I look forward to dealing with and defending these allegations which have been made and will do so at the hearing in due course. For now I am solely focused on my duties as head coach of the Proteas," Boucher said.


For the unversed, Boucher was accused of using derogatory language by Adams for which the former cricketer has already apologised.

Discover more

Top Stories
news

U19 World Cup | Sadisha Rajapaksa help Sri Lanka win a thriller to qualify for last 8

In what was one of the most important games for both Sri Lanka and the West Indies, the islanders emerged victorious by a narrow margin to qualify for the quarterfinals of the ICC Under 19 World Cup 2022. The Lankan colts beat the hosts by three wickets as they chased down 251 with 10 balls remaining. Sadisha Rajapaksa, the opening batter for the Lankan team was the main hero of the chase as he played the anchor role, hitting 76 off 115 balls to propel his team towards the chase. On the other end though he found little support, first from Shevon Daniel (34), then from Anjala Bandara (40) to get as close to the target as possible. At the time when he got out, the team in blue needed only 52 off 62 balls with five wickets in hand. Ranuda Somarathne, who came to bat at number seven, added 33 runs with number eight Raveen de Silva and then an unbeaten 17 off 13 balls with number nine batter Yasiru Rodrigo to win the game with his 28 run knock. Earlier in the day, hosts West Indies, who were in a do or die condition, were asked to bat first by Sri Lanka who won the toss. For the hosts to qualify, they needed to beat Sri Lanka to get on equal points with Australia and then move to the next round on the virtue of a better net run rate. The Windies batters were up for a challenge and gave it their all to push themselves towards an above-par total of 250. Kevin Wickham top-scored with 56 off 91 balls while others like Jordan Johnson, Teddy Bishop and Rivaldo Clarke also played important innings. For Sri Lanka, skipper Dunith Wellalage continued his brilliant run with the ball and picked up three wickets to add to his tally of 10 wickets from the previous two games. South Africa into quarterfinals South Africa finally showed its worth with the bat as it crossed the 300 run mark with the bat for the first time in the tournament. In its game against Ireland, the junior Proteas rode on the century from George Van Heerden and a brilliant 94 from the leading run-scorer of the tournament so far, Dewald Brevis, to get to 315-7. The bowlers from the rainbow nation have been brilliant throughout the tournament and they continued their good form, dismissing Ireland for 158 in the 33rd over to win the game by 153 runs according to the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method.