Mark Boucher is a professional cricket player, born on December 3, 1976, in East London, Cape Province, South Africa. He went to the Selborne College, which is one of the eminent schools of his country. Being the wicket-keeper of the South African cricket team, he is a right-handed batsman and also a right-arm medium pace bowler.
On October 17, 1997, Mark Boucher made his Test debut against Pakistan and was a part of the South African Test squad that toured Australia in the 1997-98 season. His consistent performances as a batsman and a wicket keeper during the Australian series made him a regular player of the South African team. With his quick reflexes, he is brilliant at stumping and catching the ball behind the wicket. In October 2007 at Lahore, while playing the second Test match of the Bank Alfalah Test Series against Pakistan, Mark Boucher took the wicket of Danish Kaneria, a Pakistan cricketer. The ball was bowled by his team-mate, Makhaya Ntini, it was the 400th dismissal of Mark Boucher, which made him the first wicket-keeper in the history of Test cricket to reach the milestone of 400 dismissals.
During the Test series against Zimbabwe in 1999-2000 at Harare, Mark Boucher came in as the night-watchman and scored 125 runs, the highest score by a night-watchman in Test cricket, a record that he holds. His Tests’ statistics show 429 catches and 20 stumpings showcasing his wicket-keeping skills and is considered as one of the greatest wicket-keepers of South Africa. Being the vice-captain, he guided his team in four Test matches. As of the year 2008, Mark Boucher played his last Test match against Pakistan on August 7, 2008 and owns 118 international caps in Test cricket to his credit.
He began his One Day International (ODI) career against New Zealand on January 16, 1998. By scoring the crucial final runs for his country in the memorable ODI against Australia on March 12, 2006, Mark Boucher played a key role in clinching the victory for South Africa. In September that year, he went on to smash his maiden ODI century out of 44 balls against Zimbabwe, which is the second-fastest century in the history of ODI matches. His score was an unbeaten 147 runs off just 68 balls in that match. During the 2007 World Cup, Mark Boucher scored 50 runs out of 21 balls and a total of 75 runs in the match against the Netherlands assisting his team’s score to 353 for four wickets. Of his 268 ODIs, he has taken 371 catches and is responsible for 18 stumpings.
Having represented South Africa in 16 Twenty20 (T20) games, he made a score of 317 runs with the best score of an unbeaten 57. In the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 2008 season, Mark Boucher played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore team. He played in ten games scoring 225 runs with a batting average of 32.14 and his highest IPL score being 50 runs against Kolkatta Knight Riders.
Mark Boucher is the proud recipient of the South Africa Player of the Year award in 1998, 2000 and 2006. He supports The Living Waters, a charity group in East London, sponsoring educational scholarships and monetary awards to children of the organization.
Apart from playing cricket, Mark Boucher has a passion for golf and plays the game during his spare time.
