Assuming that he plays at Lord’s, Mark Boucher will set a new record for consecutive Test appearances for South Africa. He will be appearing in his 61st consecutive Test for the country since the match against Pakistan at Johannesburg in 1997/98.
The wicketkeeper will pass the previous record of 60 by Jacques Kallis whose run came to an end when he did not tour Bangladesh earlier this year.
The following players have appeared in 40 or more consecutive Tests for South Africa:
60 MV Boucher 14/02/1998 24/07/2003
60 JH Kallis 26/12/1997 02/01/2003
53 G Kirsten 26/12/1993 18/03/1999
45 AW Nourse 11/10/1902 16/08/1924
42 B Mitchell 15/06/1929 05/03/1949
41 WJ Cronje 26/11/1992 30/01/1998
40 SM Pollock 23/07/1998 02/01/2002
40 JHB Waite 05/12/1952 10/01/1964
The world record for consecutive Test appearances is 153 by Allan Border for Australia.
Meanwhile, Boucher’s captain Graeme Smith needs one run to reach 1 000 runs in Tests.
As he has only played 16 innings he is almost certain to beat the South African record for the least innings required to reach 1 000 Test runs, 21 by Eddie Barlow.
He is also almost certain to be the second youngest South African to reach this milestone after Graeme Pollock who was 21 years, 159 days when he scored his 1 000th Test run.
Smith will be 22 years, 180 days on the first day of the Lord’s Test.
The world record for least innings to reach 1 000 Test runs is 12 by Herbert Sutcliffe (Eng) and Everton Weekes (WI) and for the youngest to reach 1 000 Test runs is Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) at 19 years, 217 days. – Sapa