Boucher's frank admission after South Africa crumble to the Netherlands

After letting Stephan Myburgh dictate terms in Sunday's late-morning fixture, Max O'Dowd, Tom Cooper and Colin Ackermann ensured the men in orange reached a defendable 158.

South Africa v Netherlands, Scorecard

The Proteas in response never found a flow, hapless against a professional Dutch bowling effort, falling 13 runs short as they crashed out of the tournament.

Perhaps free of responsibilities given his imminent departure, Boucher was candid in his side's assessment, lambasting the side's lackadaisical start to the match, which set the tone for a disappointing outcome.

"When we woke up," Boucher admitted when asked where things first went wrong, going on to say the defeat was "probably" the worst in his tenure.

"I think if you look at the way that we started the game, our energies were low. Whether that's because it was a 10:30am game (local time), times have been quite difficult, I don't know, I haven't really put my finger on it."

Sunday's result only hammered the point of South Africa's nervousness in ICC global tournaments, and while Boucher felt the current generation weren't burdened by history or lofty expectations, he acknowledged it may have played on his mind.

"I think the more you don't do well in World Cups, I think it does start playing in your head a bit. I think that's just natural," he said.

"We were never really in this game today, to be fair, so it's not like you look at it and go from the start of the game on paper, yes, we should have won the game, but the game is not played on paper."

Boucher extended his congratulations to the Netherlands, with the victory going a long way to automatic qualification for the 2024 tournament.

The Dutch would need to ensure a top four finish in the group for a spot by virtue of finishing in the event's top eight, and showed enough quality in the eyes of Boucher to justify their standing in the current cricket climate.

"I think they batted well. They were brave. They can come out and play brave cricket, the situation that they're in, as well, which makes them dangerous and then we weren't able to get momentum back on our side," Boucher said.

"I think our plans were there, but we didn't quite use them well enough. I thought if you look at the game as a whole, I think Netherlands out-bowled us. They bowled with good plans, bowled to the longer side of the field, and they were just able to create more pressure on us than we were able to put pressure on them."

South Africa are in a strong position on the World Test Championship table in contrast to their white-ball travails, and hope to make a push for the final with a strong series in their Australian return later in the year.

Forfeiting their three Super League ODIs with Australia in 2023 however, the Proteas have jeopardised their plans for automatic qualification for the 50-over Cricket World Cup next year, and may need to enter the tournament via the Qualifier in Zimbabwe.

Boucher admits the side's issues are completely self-inflicted.

"Our white ball stuff, I think we've got ourselves to blame as South African cricket with where we are at the moment. We also understand that we've been through tough times, and there are certain things that have to happen with the guys to even close out," Boucher added.

The defeat to the Netherlands ends a three-year tenure for Boucher having been unveiled by former teammate Graeme Smith.

The highly-acclaimed wicket-keeper/batter says he will hold his head high when looking back at his time, even after a defeat in his final match.

"I can honestly look at my coaching staff, and we ticked every single box that we needed to tick," he said.

"I'm gutted, to be honest (after defeat on Sunday). As I said, I think this squad deserved to give themselves a better chance, and yeah, unfortunately it didn't happen for us, which is very disappointing for me and certainly every single guy who's in our dressing room at the moment.

"The bottom line is we just weren't up to standard today as a team. We just weren't good enough and we didn't come out and perform as a unit. I think there was certainly individuals who really stood out, but as a team we just unfortunately didn't all rock up today."