Boucher's iffy ODI reign leaves Proteas with World Cup mountain to climb

Mark Boucher has coached his final ODI for South Africa.

It ended on a depressing note after the Proteas were skittled for 99 in 27.1 overs in the deciding third ODI against India in Delhi on Tuesday before the hosts cruised to a seven-wicket victory. 

South Africa lost the series 2-1, but, more importantly, their qualifying campaign for the 2023 World Cup - also in India - is very much on the ropes.

Boucher will resign as South Africa's head coach after the T20 World Cup in Australia, which runs from 16 October to 13 November, meaning that World Cup qualification now becomes his successors headache.

STAT ATTACK! The facts and figures from South Africa's 99 all out against India

During Boucher's time in charge, the Proteas have only won 13 of their 28 ODIs -  a 46.82% winning rate - losing 11 and also watching four outings degenerate into no-results.

Predictably, it means their position in the ICC World Cup Super League log looks distinctly troubling as they are currently languishing in 11th place on 59 points.

South Africa are currently 29 points behind eighth-place West Indies in their quest for automatic qualification for the 2023 Cricket World Cup in India.

The top eight teams on the eventual table gain their ticket for the sub-continent, with the other five languishers having to travel to Zimbabwe in mid-2023 for the qualifying tournament.

Ironically, the Proteas' challengers for that spot isn't the men from the Caribbean, but rather Sri Lanka and Ireland.

As it stands, South Africa will move past the Windies if they win three of their final five matches - the three-match ODI series against England and two-match shootout with the Netherlands next year.

Winning all five would see them reach 109 points, which would be enough to