- Proteas Test skipper Dean Elgar has come out batting in defence of national coach Mark Boucher and director of cricket Graeme Smith.
- The left-handed opener believes CSA's SJN report, which fingered the two men for discrimination and bias, has clouded their current contributions to the local game.
- Elgar also hopes for more stability from an administrative perspective.
Feisty by nature, Dean Elgar has gone against a tide of public opinion by stating his belief that Mark Boucher and by extension Graeme Smith have been treated unfairly by the fallout from Cricket South Africa's (CSA) Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) report.
The Proteas' head coach and CSA's director of cricket have both been implicated of racial discrimination and bias in the recently-published, 235-page correspondence.
While South Africa's Test skipper gave no indication that he's against the local governing body's plans to conduct "formal inquiries" into the conduct of parties highlighted in the report, Elgar wanted to make it clear that the national coaching staff's dedication to their current duties can't be questioned.
"If there's a theme that's stood out for me over the past two years, it's been that the backing of our coaches and team management has been lacking," the gritty left-hander said on Tuesday, ahead of high-profile Test series against India starting in Centurion this weekend.
"I don't think we've received a lot of good stuff in that regard. From a players' point of view, we perhaps need to say: 'We back our coaches. We back our team management. We're giving them a bit of love'."
Elgar's call for himself and his team-mates to perhaps be more vocal on the value brought by Boucher and co is based on a simple, obvious reality: only they have knowledge of what happens in the background.
"Sometimes they're putting in so much work that it just gets unnoticed. Unfortunately, that gets watered down by the media and the reporting on it," he said.
"That's the biggest challenge for me. I know what our coaches do behind the scenes and to me, that should speak volumes too when it comes to our environment."
Both Boucher and Smith have been confirmed in their roles for the duration of the Indian series, which comprises of three Tests and three ODIs.
Elgar added the disclaimer that there's "no excuses" for the headlines the local game has made over the past 24 months, including the contents of Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza's report, but also pointed out that the players are hoping administrators get their house in order too.
"We haven't had a lot of stability from an administrative point of view and hopefully that will be achieved soon," he said.
"But yes, it's not nice to see our coaches get lambasted. I know what work they put in behind the scenes, stuff that only we can see, no-one else."
The first Test at SuperSport Park starts on Sunday.