October 04, 2007	Thursday	Ramazan 21, 1428

KARACHI, Oct 3: South Africa’s Mark Boucher said victory over Pakistan in the first Test would be more important than his own feat of passing Ian Healy’s world record mark for most dismissals by a wicket-keeper.

Boucher made two stumpings on the third day of his 103rd Test, in progress at the National Stadium, Karachi, to left-arm spinner Paul Harris to break Australian Healy’s mark of 395 dismissals.

Boucher equalled the 395 mark when he stumped Shoaib Malik and set a new record when he stumped Umar Gul.

“Obviously it is a great feeling for me to break such a good wicket-keeper’s record. But the bottom line for me is if we can pull off a win in this Test. It will be probably be the cherry on top for me,” Boucher said.

“Healy is someone who I used to watch on TV and love the way he kept. So it is also sad to break such a good wicket-keeper’s record. But I have played enough Tests so this had to come along,” stated Boucher.

Boucher added he had never been a person for stats but breaking Healy’s record was probably the best milestone he had got.

Boucher also praised Harris and said his second stumping was not actually a stumping.

“It was an edge but we leave it as a stumping. Harry bowled really well he dried up one end for us in the day and bowled lot of pressure balls.

“It is great for South African cricket to have a spinner do that,” he said.

“The difference between Paul and other spinners is he is tall and gets bounce and consistently puts the ball in the right areas,” Boucher noted.

—Reuters