South Africa to include fitness clauses in players contracts: Mark Boucher

Cricket South Africa will introduce fitness clauses in players contracts after the team's disappointing run against England and Australia, said head coach Mark Boucher.

 
"We have put in some programs with regards to keeping fit and strong around your household. We are putting new fitness clauses in contracts so you need to be fit," cricket website ESPN Cricinfo quoted Boucher.
 
Boucher was appointed as the head coach of the team after a turmoil in the CSA administration and Proteas poor show in the 2019 ICC ODI World Cup in England. Under the head coach, South Africa lost the Test series and T20 International series against England while the rain affected ODIs were ended in a draw. After that it lost the T20 series against Australia and lastly won the ODI series.

 
"The exciting thing was in white-ball cricket, to see the guys grow a bit. We gave quite a lot of opportunities to youngsters and they started to gel as a team and not allow one particular guy to carry them through. Our performance against Australia was the light at the end of the tunnel but it's not that it's the finished product," Boucher said.
 
Two back-to-back T20 World Cups will be played in the next two years, so Boucher would be hoping for some consistency from the Proteas.
 
As the world has been sent into lockdown as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus, Boucher has said that it has not disrupted the training regimes of the South African side.
 
"I don't think it has really disrupted our plans. We were always going to be having a break at this time. The plan was to give the guys some off time, to travel a bit, spend some time with the families, they are certainly spending some time with the families now but not traveling and there's time to get rid of a few niggles their bodies have picked up," he added.

 
Last month, South Africa was slated to play three-match ODI series against India.
 
The first ODI was abandoned due to rain and after that, the series was called off as a precautionary measure against Covid-19.