The Proteas will be aggressive in their attempt to change the scarred face of South African cricket when they tackle England in the upcoming limited overs series.
Ever since the coronavirus brought a halt to competitive sport in March this year, Cricket South Africa's off-field has taken centre stage.
Not only do they have ongoing boardroom issues – with the hele grootkoppe leaving – but there was also big drama surrounding the Black Lives Matter Movement, ultimately leading to a squad culture camp in Skukuza in August.
What emerged from the camp is apparently a new team and coach Mark Boucher now wants his players to bring smiles to the faces of fans when they face England in the first of three T20Is at Newlands next Friday.
Boucher explains: “We understand that we’re in a position to bring some good news to the game of cricket in the country.
“If we start playing a good brand of cricket and leading from the front from that perspective, hopefully we can change a couple of perceptions.”
He adds: “Our short-term goal is to build this culture [we decided on at the camp ] – to almost start afresh. We’ve got a new group of youngsters within the setup.
“We’re trying to build up a very big squad we can choose from. It’s going to mean that we have to rest players along the way and give opportunity to others. Basically just living the philosophy we put in place is the main goal now.”
Of their on-field approach, he adds: “We want to be nice and aggressive, that’s the way the game is going [globally] and you want to keep up with the direction of the game. Smartness is something we’ve spoken about – you don’t also want to be mavericks.”