 Boucher tore into England's weary bowlers on Saturday evening |
South Africa's third wicket-keeper of the current series against England is Mark Boucher, all 76 Tests behind him at the grand old age of 28.
He has always been the type of cricketer you want on your side if at all possible.
Cussed, determined, with the invaluable ability to get up opposition's noses - Boucher is cast in the mould of Dominic Cork and Jack Russell.
He is a better batsman than either of them, however, and he showed just what he has given South Africa down the years with an accomplished innings of 56 on the third afternoon in Johannesburg.
At the time he came in, South Africa were 184-5, a long way behind England's first innings score of 411-8 declared.
By the time he got out, they were 304-6, England's bowling was in tatters, the new ball had proved innocuous and Boucher had also helped Herschelle Gibbs reach an excellent century.
In short, during the course of Boucher's innings, England went from being the only team who could conceivably win to being firmly on the back foot.
 Boucher was thrilled to return to the South African fold in Jo'burg |
Boucher, who had kept immaculately when England had batted, began with some bright cuts and compact pull shots in his innings.
By the end, he was producing some fine drives and generally outshining Gibbs.
So why had he been dropped in the first place?
The official line from the South African camp is that he had lost form.
In reality, it was felt a talented young black wicket-keeper, Thami Tsolekile, deserved a taste of Test cricket.
Unfortunately, Tsolekile's batting was not perceived to be good enough and neither was his glove-work error-free so for the second Test AB de Villiers was given the gloves.
Subtly, South Africa retained a second player of black or Asian origin by playing Hashim Amla in the middle order.
That was still the case at Durban, but eventually Amla too was jettisoned which left only Makhaya Ntini to carry the torch for black and Asian South Africans at Johannesburg.
This is an issue of great sadness for the chief moderniser of South African cricket, Dr Ali Bacher.
His view is that there has been ample time and investment for black and Asian cricketers in his country to compete at the highest level.
But when a series of such magnitude is locked at 1-1 with one to play, you cannot afford to let politics decide who plays in the team.
After being on the receiving end in Cape Town, England's hearts would have slumped further on hearing that Boucher had been recalled to the South African squad.
It was in fact a masterstroke to bring in the former vice-captain - a man who famously showed he had what it takes at this level when aged only 21.
In February 1998 he put on 195 with Pat Symcox for the ninth wicket against Pakistan, on the same Wanderers ground where he made his comeback against England.
For a while, in an extraordinary Test match, it seemed his comeback could transform the series.
But Matthew Hoggard ended those hopes with a remarkable bowling performance on the final day.
MMIX
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