When SA last beat England in a Test series, at the turn of the millennium, Mark Boucher was a critical wicketkeeping cog in Hansie Cronjé's experienced and skilful team.
As the team director roped in to help the ailing national team, Boucher has quite the task, one he fulfilled well as a player.
Boucher's England trial starts on Thursday at Centurion with the first of four Tests.
Boucher said he'd been part of SA cricket when the game had been at an even lower ebb than now.
At that time he was an established member when Cronjé's match-fixing tarnished the game in the autumn of 2000.
The shocking sequence of events left the team without a leader, but on the field, the players bounced back.
Life continued on the field, and they performed well until they hit the iceberg that was Steve Waugh's Australians in the 2001/02 summer.
Boucher was the captain at the Wanderers in 2002 when SA suffered their worst Test defeat. In three days Australia hammered SA by an innings and 360 runs.
Can that be lower than where SA find themselves now? It's debatable, but the best team in the world, India, inflicted a 3-0 series whitewash on SA three months ago that included two defeats by an innings.
Factor in the 2-0 series defeat and it dawns that SA are deeper in the mire than was originally believed.
Where does Boucher start fixing?
The problems are everywhere, but the faults are individual rather than systemic. SA's batsmen have decent averages. The figures might have been even better had they consistently played on better pitches over the past two seasons.
Batting in SA has been a risky occupation and during Ottis Gibson's tenure as coach, the team's confidence shrank with each series.
During the series in Australia last year, the wickets were consistently good and the Proteas played some of their best all-round cricket. When the pitches were juiced up, South African players battled against Asian teams who had bowlers able to exploit the conditions.
SA's footwork and shot-making became indecisive in India and Sri Lanka.
The fast bowlers, accustomed to home pitches, forgot how to work for wickets.
Fairer pitches, regardless of England's bowling strength, must be prepared by the local groundsmen, Bryan Bloy (Centurion Park), Ihtishaam Adams (Newlands), Adi Carter (St George's Park) and Evan Flint (Wanderers).
Struggling for runs
Boucher played when SA cricket was at its peak and knows good teams can win on any surface.
There are form issues, however. Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma (unfit for the first Test) and Faf du Plessis are struggling while Aiden Markram needs to prove his fitness.
There are opportunities too.
Zubayr Hamza and whoever replaces Theunis de Bruyn have the chance to establish themselves in the four Tests.
England have a world-class attack, but one that struggles to take wickets away from home. They are beatable on the road, but not in SA. In the last three series played between the two teams in SA England won two with one drawn. Boucher, and batting consultant Jacques Kallis were part of the last series win, in 1999/2000.
The pair have less coaching experience than Enoch Nkwe, recently demoted from coach to assistant, and bowling coach Charl Langeveldt.
This should help new director of cricket Graeme Smith, who never played in a home series win against England. In Nkwe and Langeveldt the coaching book balances nicely.
Kallis will require his legendary patience to communicate his ideas and skills to the team. Whether this will happen remains to be seen.
The feeling remains that close friends parachuted each other into key positions in the team management. Boucher at least has proved himself as the Titans coach with five trophies across all formats.
It's a brains trust packed with playing experience, but one that's unproven at coaching level.
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