How to make Mark Boucher happy

Mark Boucher wasn't happy. "There's no rhythm," he said more than once, lacing his gripe with the odd expletive, as he conducted cordon catching practice between innings at St George's Park on Saturday. "Let's get some rhythm going!" And that's an order, he didn't have to say.

The sturdy figure of South Africa's coach looked like a dark and stormy night in his navy blue team tracksuit, complete with matching cap and black sunglasses. He wore a catcher's mitt on his left hand and held a bat in his right, and hit balls towards Rivash Gobind kneeling several metres away. Gobind guided catches behind him to Kyle Verreynne and Sarel Erwee - lightweight pads for his role as the short leg fielder snug under his whites - and Wiaan Mulder, who were lined up near the boundary at the Park Drive End.

Presently, Mulder left the scene to join the bowlers, who were gathered on an unused pitch in the middle. He was replaced by Keegan Petersen, who had hardly stepped into the breach when he leapt left, lithe as you like, to snare a fine catch. Most of Gobind's fire was trained on Erwee, whose palms resounded with meaty slaps that were followed by his yelps of polite protest. He stuck it out for a good long while before giving way to Simon Harmer, who made an eager entrance and took his catches - as he did at Kingsmead - by using most of his body to envelope the ball, like a human baseball glove.

Maybe there wasn't much rhythm, what with all the moving parts involved. But there was intensity. You could feel the electric snap, crackle, pop of anticipation rising from ground level. It's in these moments, when players are preparing to give of their best, when they are fully focused but have nothing to gain if they do something special and nothing to lose if they get it wrong, when no-one's counting runs and wickets and umpires aren't watching, that the beauty of cricket is revealed.

But the bubble had to burst, and soon everyone was watching the real thing. And there they were: Verreynne with Erwee, Harmer and Mulder in a jagged line next to him, this time closer to the Duck Pond End, and Petersen in the gully. Something had to happen quickly otherwise the tension would surely swallow all concerned.