PakPassion.net caught up with one of Pakistan’s most successful and well known wicket-keepers, Rashid Latif, to understand the impact of the retirement of Mark Boucher on South African cricket as well as the all important issue of forcing wicket-keepers to wear helmets in light of Boucher’s unfortunate injury.

by Amir Husain

15th July 2012

Veteran wicket-keeper Mark Boucher arrived on the shores of England on 6th of July 2012 to take part in an eagerly awaited Test series between the two giants of cricket. Boucher has been a mainstay of the South Africa side for 15 years, appearing in 147 Tests and becoming the first wicket-keeper to take 500 catches in Test cricket, as well as scoring five hundreds. Given the importance of the outcome of this series to the ICC Rankings for his team, this tour was as important as any Boucher had taken part in, and the determination to succeed as ever was never in doubt. Fate, however, dealt a cruel blow to Boucher on the 9th of July at Taunton when he was struck in the left eye by a bail as he stood up to the stumps to spinner Imran Tahir. This freak accident which now threatens vision in his affected eye, resulted in the decision to retire from all forms of cricket.

Whilst the world of cricket recoiled in horror at the news of this injury and subsequent decision to retire, the fact remains that wicket-keepers around the world face such occupational hazards on a daily basis. Former England wicket-keeper Paul Downton is another player who eventually had to retire after he too was hit in the face by a bail while standing up to the stumps in 1990 – an injury which, as in the case of Boucher as well, could have been easily avoided by use of a protective helmet.

PakPassion.net caught up with one of Pakistan’s most successful and well known wicket-keepers, Rashid Latif, to understand the impact of the retirement of Boucher on South African cricket as well as the all important issue of forcing wicket-keepers to wear helmets in light of Boucher’s unfortunate injury.

As a member of the wicket-keeping fraternity, Latif was understandably shocked by the news of Bouchers retirement but understood the reasons behind this move while offering this tribute to the South African glovesman. 

“Boucher has taken the right decision at the right time. He was an excellent wicket-keeper batsman – Infact, I would rate him amongst the top 5 wicket-keepers in the history of cricket. He was a great asset for South Africa and it will be difficult to find his replacement. Although his decision to retire has been driven by the seriousness of the injury, it is also true that great players also know when its time to retire and move on. Having said that, this is a big decision for Boucher and will have a great impact on the fortunes of the South African team.” 

As the calls to make helmets compulsory for all levels of cricketers continue to gather voice amongst fans and observers alike, Rashid is not convinced that this is the right way forward as personal preferences need to be taken into account citing his own example.

“In England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand it’s up to individual players to decide whether they want to wear a helmet or not – there is no restriction at the senior level. However, for juniors, it is compulsory to wear protective gear when keeping wickets. Personally speaking, I don’t ever recall wearing a helmet while keeping as I felt very uncomfortable. I do not like the idea of making it compulsory – it should be left to individual preferences to use if they feel that they are in danger of getting hurt by the ball. The ICC should not make this a rule as it will affect the performance of some established wicket-keepers in big matches – I don’t think that this is a good idea.”

Regarded as one of Pakistan’s premier wicket-keeper batsmen of his time, Rashid Latif had 130 dismissals (119 catches 11 stumpings) in 37 Tests and 220 dismissals (182 catches 38 stumpings) in 166 ODIs. With this pedigree, Latif is in a unique position to cast a critical eye on the issue of how helmets, whilst protecting players, can also adversely affect the performance of players as they make the transition from junior to senior level of cricket.

“In terms of effect on technique, when a player in his younger years keeps with a helmet on, he does not take his eyes of the ball if it comes near his face as he feels secure. However, when he becomes a senior player and the helmet is taken off, he doesn’t have the confidence to watch the ball coming towards his face which has an effect on “stumpings”. The Kent and England wicket-keeper Geraint Jones had a similar problem as he had used a helmet during his younger years but found it difficult to handle stumping chances when working without a helmet. As I said before, any wicket-keeper who wears a helmet before will always have an issue when he takes the helmet off.”