- Proteas coach Mark Boucher has opened up on Quinton de Kock's struggles as Test captain
- De Kock, who took up the position on a temporary basis, won one series and lost one
- His batting suffered while captain, something that Boucher said stood put because of his leadership role
Proteas coach Mark Boucher says the national team management will put their heads together to decide on Quinton de Kock’s future as Test captain.
De Kock, who is also Proteas captain in the shorter formats, has looked ill at ease with the long form captaincy and hardly got going with the bat in Pakistan.
He also had irresponsible dismissals in both Tests that South Africa lost in Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Boucher said batsmen go through purple and rough patches but said De Kock’s loss of form was highlighted by the fact he was captain.
"It’s a difficult one to answer," Boucher said when asked if the captaincy had negatively impacted De Kock's batting.
"If he was scoring runs, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Batters go through periods where they score and they don’t score.
"With Quinny, it’s happened when he’s got the captaincy. It’s difficult to say 'yes' or 'no', but batters go through these things.
"The big thing is that when you’re captain, everything gets highlighted, his lack of form has been highlighted and people will ask is it because of the captaincy.
“Maybe it is. We’ll have these discussions when we get home. I’ll sit down with the selectors and the convenors and have these conversations.
"We’ll go back home and we’ll have time to make these non-emotional decisions on the way forward. If we’re looking at someone to take the job permanently, maybe now’s the time to do so.”
With South Africa again failing on the sub-continent, questions now arises on whether they have the mental strength to cope in Asia.
Their body language could say that, but their performances have suggested otherwise.
Boucher said there were incremental improvements, but they found ways of shooting themselves in the foot.
"We’re working on technical things that we can improve on," he said.
"Sometimes you wake up and things aren’t that great from a mental perspective and you need your technical side to pull you through. There are a lot of scars from the past and I’ve seen guys with a few technical issues like Aiden and mentally get through it by spending time at the crease. He showed what he can do by scoring a 100 in tough conditions.
"When we start to get some sort of a partnership, we find ways of getting out. When Temba and Wiaan were batting in the first innings, it looked like the game was getting easier and there was a run-out.
"It’s just stupid ways of getting out. In the first Test, there were two run-outs in the first innings. That’s always going to put you under pressure."