A man to go to war with, but never against, Mark Boucher packed all the archetypical attributes of the South African cricketer into his short, stocky frame. He was relentlessly competitive, invariably aggressive, and as hard and uncompromising as the new ball. After an international career that lasted almost 15 years, the end was desperately unfortunate, as Boucher was forced to announce his retirement after being hit in the eye by a bail in a warm-up game on the tour to England in 2012, which would have been his last series anyway. Boucher finished with 998 international dismissals as a wicketkeeper, including 555 in 147 Tests.

Boucher's start in international cricket was uncertain. His relative lack of pure wicketkeeping skill and ability was exposed on South Africa's 1998 tour to England when he was repeatedly undone by the swing of the ball after it had pitched. However, Boucher had no peer in terms of temperament, guts and determination, and he duly fashioned himself into one of the finest glovemen in the game. He could often be seen, long after the rest of the squad had hit the showers after a training session, willing himself through another set of wicketkeeping drills. The hard work paid off, and he is likely to hold the record for Test dismissals - among many others - long after his retirement.

As a batsman Boucher lived for the big moment, the quick 30 or 40 his team needed to win a match, or the session that had to be spent at the crease to ensure a draw. His most memorable innings was probably the scintillating unbeaten 50 he scored to complete South Africa's surge to a series-clinching target of 438 for 9 off the penultimate ball of a one-day international against Australia in Johannesburg in March 2006.

Boucher strutted through 75 consecutive Tests before the suits thought he needed to be brought down a peg or two and dropped him for the tour to India in 2004. His reality duly checked, he returned to the national team as the ultimate man for the trenches. In the autumn of his career, his renewed commitment to his conditioning earned him extra years at the top, and helped him become the first wicketkeeper to take 500 catches in Test cricket.

For a man who loomed so large in the world of cricket, Boucher started small. He was invariably smaller, and younger, than anyone else in the age-group provincial teams he played in. But the neon intensity in his eyes in the otherwise banal team photographs told of a kid who meant business. Boucher was a junior South African squash champion, and famously once played a national final with a racquet arm that had not long before emerged from a plaster cast. He lost, but in five games.
Telford Vice

• October 17-21, 1997
  A rain-marred debut
  • Mark Boucher's Test debut in Sheikhpura is a virtual non-event. In a game where three days are washed out due to rain, he only keeps wicket for 17 overs without any scalps. He does get an opportunity to bat, however, but only manages six runs.
    
• January 16, 1998
  A more promising start in ODIs
  • Boucher has better fortune in his first ODI, against New Zealand in Perth, where he holds on to two catches but his batting, yet again, doesn't make much of an impression.
    
• March 6-10, 1998
  Entering the record books
  • He hits the headlines in the home Test series against Pakistan in Port Elizabeth, scoring a half-century and, more importantly, accounting for nine dismissals - eight catches and a stumping - equalling his predecessor David Richardson's South African record. He sets a new South Africa record for a three-Test series, with 18 dismissals. Another landmark is his six dismissals in Pakistan's first innings, the second-highest in the all-time list.
    
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• June 4-August 10, 1998
  Success in England
  • Boucher cements his place in the South African line-up with 26 dismissals - 25 catches and a stumping - on the tour of England. The feat, at the time, is the fourth-highest in a series in the all-time list.
    
• January 15, 1999
  Impact with the bat
  • After more than a year in the international circuit, and having played 16 Tests, Boucher gets the much-coveted first Test century. The stage is Centurion Park, as West Indies are beaten by 351 runs and suffer their first 0-5 series whitewash. Boucher follows up with two more centuries in the year.
    
• February 13, 2000
  A record in ODIs
  • Boucher takes five catches in an ODI against England in Johannesburg to equal the record for most catches by a keeper in an ODI innings. He repeats the feat twice in the same year.
    
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• July 30-August 2, 2000
  A batting landmark
  • Boucher goes past 1000 runs in Tests during his half-century in the first innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka in Kandy, and takes a crucial catch to dismiss Muttiah Muralitharan which wins South Africa the game by just seven runs to level the series.
    
• March 12, 2001
  The most successful South African wicketkeeper
  • In Port of Spain, Wavell Hinds is Boucher's 153rd dismissal, which takes him past Dave Richardson, in his 38th Test, to become South Africa's most successful wicketkeeper. Richardson had 150 catches and two stumpings against his name.
    
• February 22-October 21, 2002
  A taste of captaincy
  • In his sixth year since his debut, and in his 50th Test, Boucher is named captain of South Africa, stepping in for an injured Shaun Pollock. He presides over a series-defeat to Australia, which includes a consolation victory in Durban, and then leads his side to an innings victory over Bangladesh in October. He also takes his 200th catch in the Bangladesh Test.
    
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• March 24, 2002
  Repeating the effort in ODIs
  • Dave Richardson is eclipsed once again, as Boucher snaps Damien Martyn in Centurion to go to 166 ODI dismissals, the most by a South African wicketkeeper.
    
• March 3, 2003
  World Cup disappointment
  • He finishes with a fighting, unbeaten 45 against Sri Lanka in Durban but the game ends in disappointment for the home team. His flick to midwicket, which results in a dot ball, proves costly, for both South Africa and Sri Lanka are tied on the same score when rain intervenes. With more points, Sri Lanka advance to the Super Six stage, knocking the hosts out of the tournament.
    
• October 27, 2004
  A major setback
  • After having played 76 Tests, Boucher is dropped from the South African squad for the tour of India. The decision is a controversial one, with reports speaking of a rift between him and then South African coach Ray Jennings. He is replaced by Thami Tsolekile. Boucher makes his return in the home series against England in January 2005, but his absence from the first three Tests is again clouded in controversy regarding South Africa's policy of race-based quotas.
    
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• May 2, 2005
  The maiden wicket
  • In his 84th Test, against West Indies in Antigua, Boucher gets to bowl for the first time in international cricket. The outing is a successful one, as he dismisses centurion Dwayne Bravo, caught by Ashwell Prince, and finishes with figures of 1.2-0-6-1.
    
• November 16, 2005
  Joining the 300 club
  • A major milestone for Boucher in his 201st ODI, against India in Hyderabad, as he accounts for his 300th dismissal in the 50-over format; he's only the second player at the time, after Adam Gilchrist, to reach that landmark. Gautam Gambhir is his special victim.
    
• March 12, 2006
  Winning South Africa their greatest game
  • Arguably, his most important contribution with the bat comes in the decider of the ODI series at home against Australia. The visitors pile up 434, the highest ODI score, in Johannesburg only to be eclipsed by South Africa in their epic chase. Herschelle Gibbs leads the way with 175, but Boucher's unbeaten half-century, which includes the winning runs off the penultimate ball, takes them to the finish.
    
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• January 11, 2007
  Twin delights
  • In Centurion against Pakistan, Boucher achieves the rare distinction of being one of only four South Africans at the time to play 100 Tests. The cherry on the cake is the world record for most catches in Tests, as he pouches Faisal Iqbal to go past Ian Healy's mark of 366.
    
• February 11, 2007
  Another feather in his cap
  • Pakistan are at the receiving end of another Boucher record, as he accounts for six dismissals in their innings in an ODI in Cape Town - all of them catches - to equal the record held by Adam Gilchrist, Alec Stewart and Ridley Jacobs.
    
• August 24, 2007
  Run-in with the authorities
  • Boucher is fined 60% of his match fee from the ICC World Twenty20 after criticising the South African board for excluding Jacques Kallis from the squad for the tournament. He is quoted by a South Africa paper as suggesting there were "non-sporting reasons" for Kallis' omission.
    
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• October 3, 2007
  The world's most successful wicketkeeper
  • Boucher's crowning achievement, his 396th dismissal, stumping Umar Gul in Karachi, takes him past Ian Healy and makes him the wicketkeeper with the most dismissals in Tests. Adam Gilchrist overtakes Boucher in his final Test, but Boucher reclaims it less than a month later against Bangladesh.
    
• February 2008
  The IPL beckons
  • Boucher is snapped up by Bangalore Royal Challengers for US$450,000 at the IPL auction. In a disappointing campaign for the franchise in the first year, he emerges as their second-highest run-getter, playing 10 games for 225 runs at 32.14. In the 2009 edition, he features in 12 games, averaging 30 for his 150 runs.
    
• January 23, 2009
  400 in ODIs
  • At the Sydney Cricket Ground, in his 275th ODI, Boucher joins Adam Gilchrist to become only the second wicketkeeper with 400 dismissals in the ODI format. Shaun Marsh is the victim.
    
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• November 9, 2011
  500 catches in the bag
  • On the first day of the Cape Town Test against Australia, Boucher pouches Phil Hughes to become the first wicketkeeper to take 500 catches in Test cricket, 121 ahead of his nearest rival, Gilchrist.
    
• July 10, 2012
  The freak injury, and the retirement
  • After announcing that the tour to England would be his last, Boucher suffers a freak injury to his eye in the first warm-up game, when a bail hits him in the left eye. It's a serious injury which requires surgery. A day after that hit, he announces his retirement from international cricket.
    
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