South African Cricket Coach in Eye of Racism Storm

Proteas coach Mark Boucher has become one of the first people to respond to allegations made against them during Cricket South Africa's ongoing Social Justice and Nation-Building hearings, writes Yanga Sibembe for Daily Maverick.

Boucher played well over a decade of cricket as a wicketkeeper/batter for the national team, making 147 Test appearances and 320 in limited overs. One of his former teammates, Paul Adams, alleged that Boucher was one of the players who used to refer to him as "brown shit", in an adaptation of a song by Boney M titled Brown Girl in the Ring.

Despite being in the majority in terms of the country's racial demographic, Adams remained a minority in terms of race throughout his nine-year career, which he described as "not all fun and games" because of the discrimination he was allegedly subjected to.

"I have listened to the hurt some of my teammates felt, the feeling of exclusion and some totally unacceptable and inappropriate examples of alleged racism that they endured," said Boucher in his written response to the office of advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, who is heading the hearings.