Ray Jennings: cut from a different cloth

South Africa's coaches have been cut from wildly contrasting bolts of cloth since their return to the international fold in 1991. Mike Procter was a man of white flannel, and he will always be better remembered as a star of the 1970s and '80s than as a coach. Procter was followed by Bob Woolmer, a smooth operator who dazzled with laptops and reverse-sweeps and mysterious talk of channel bowling - take silk, Mr Woolmer.

Then came Graham Ford, the honest artisan who was pure tracksuit material. As in nylon. We have just bade farewell to Eric Simons. Napa leather is classy and luxurious, and it isn't cloth. In the same way, Simons was never accepted as South Africa's coach. Which brings us to Ray Jennings. Hessian? Canvas? The blood-crusted pelts cavemen hacked their body-coverings from?

To some, Jennings's appointment is the decisive rip in the already torn fabric of South African cricket. Here is a man who has offered - "in jest" or not - his bowlers money to hit opposing batsmen; who punishes wayward bowlers by ordering them to run laps around the ground; who reckons replacing players' energy drinks with water will make their passion burn brighter on the field; who demands total control of his teams.

The awkward thing is, Jennings's teams also win. And that is all most cricket-minded South Africans can think of right now. But the likes of Easterns, the unloved orphan of a province that Jennings took to the SuperSport Series title two seasons ago, and South Africa A, who have been successful against their Zimbabwean and New Zealand counterparts under him this summer, are not Test teams with their attendant egos and cliques, and reservoirs of respect for experienced players. So the more thoughtful enclave of South African cricket is holding its breath to see exactly what Jennings will do to a side whose psyche is in no shape for an internal battle.

"I have spoken to a couple of guys who have been under him, and he's got some ideas," Mark Boucher, spinning hard, told Wisden Cricinfo. "Who's to say they won't work?" They have been working - the South Africa A side has performed really well and he won the title with Easterns. "So if his way of things works," Boucher continued, "bring them on into the South African side. A couple of the guys aren't too keen to do laps around the field, but if it works then we must do it. I don't think he is going to behave like a schoolteacher. I think he will understand that he is dealing with professionals who have been around for a while, and he will treat them with the respect they deserve. If it works, and if you can get the best out of players by having them run laps around the field for bowling no-balls and wides, then that's good."

Poor Boucher. When he and Nic Pothas were vying for the role of Dave Richardson's understudy in the South African squad, Jennings - then Pothas's coach at Gauteng - thought nothing of rubbishing Boucher in the media. Just weeks ago Jennings, then still coach of South Africa A, was at it again, punting three wicketkeepers by name for Boucher's position. "I've tried to send a message to Boucher," Jennings was quoted as saying. "He must be aware that smoke is starting to come up, and he'd better wake up and turn on the heat, which would be good for our national side."

Boucher can't not know he is in poor form, and although he feigns a lack of interest in his rivals he would have to be a stupid man to be ignorant of them and their claims. Far from it. Boucher knows he is under pressure to keep that position, as well as his place in the team. He doesn't need to be told. "He did phone me, and we have spoken," Boucher said of his recent relationship with his new boss. "In the past one or two differences have been expressed, but we told each other we have South African cricket at heart. If I get selected to go to India we are going to have to pull together and get the side together. We need to put the past behind us for the sake of South African cricket. "We need to get South Africa back to the top, and he's got my backing 100%."

Good. He'll need it.