Mark Verdon Boucher (born 3 December 1976) is a former South African cricketer, who holds the record for the most Test dismissals by a wicket-keeper.
A man to go to war with, but never against, Mark Boucher packed all the archetypical attributes of the South African cricketer into his short, stocky frame. He was relentlessly competitive, invariably aggressive, and as hard and uncompromising as the new ball. After an international career that lasted almost 15 years, the end was desperately unfortunate, as Boucher was forced to announce his retirement after being hit in the eye by a bail in a warm-up game on the tour to England in 2012, which would have been his last series anyway. Boucher finished with 998 international dismissals as a wicketkeeper, including 555 in 147 Tests.
Before we say anything else about this supernatural human being, just remember the number 999. Well, that’s the number of dismissals Boucher holds in ODIs, Tests as well as T20s. Had it not been for an unfortunate eye-injury, Boucher would’ve become the first wicket keeper to complete 1000 dismissals across the different forms of the game. The problem while writing about such class players and true ambassadors of the game is that you don’t know where to begin. So many adjectives, so many phrases… yet it never seems enough. Perhaps it is the figures which might be able to fill the gap and help us get rid of that emptiness. Over 10,000 runs and 61 half-centuries with six crucial centuries in Tests and ODIs, Boucher was a lower middle order batsman who made the most out of the number of balls he had. Putting his aggression, endurance and guts to use, Boucher upped the learning curve and turned out to be one of the most valuable and cherished additions to the Proteas side. Top Ten Greatest Wicket keepers Of All Time takes a bow and places him at number 2 with all the respect and appreciation in the world of cricket writings.
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