JOHANNESBURG, Jan 15: Proteas head coach Mark Boucher wants Jacques Kallis back on the South African consulting team as he believes the legendary batsman can add great value to his side.
Kallis is a consultant to the England squad currently touring Sri Lanka. He was not re-appointed to the Proteas support staff in the current season because the transformation policy of Cricket South Africa (CSA) did not allow a white person to be appointed if an equivalent black person was available for the post.
CSA took the position in its controversial attempts to create more opportunities for black players and managers to replace the former whites-only national squad under apartheid.
But, the new CSA Board has reversed that deicsion and is seeking legal advice on the restriction.
“If we can get him (Kallis) involved somewhere soon, maybe against Australia (in three Tests starting next month), I think we must,” Boucher was quoted as saying by ‘The Star’ daily.”
“There’s a lot of knowledge that Jacques can pass on to a lot of our batters. The batting knowledge that he has got (from over 150 tests), along with others in this country, needs to be utilised,” Boucher said about his former national team-mate.
The head coach said he was still due to talk to Kallis but was confident that he could convince him to re-join the Proteas.
“I just hope that we treat him with care. I’ve seen that he’s got a lot of opportunities in world cricket at the moment. “We’d be stupid not to hang onto him. I know that Jacques would love to working in South African cricket and after the conversations we’ve had, we’ll hopefully se him back here,” Boucher said.
Kallis had said he had wanted to continue working with the Proteas but he also understood the reasoning behind the CSA decision at that time. (PTI)
