Conrad relishes busy Test schedule

With all of the Proteas big names available, a captain who is chomping at the bit to play again and a sequence of eight Tests over the next five months to look forward to, Shukri Conrad’s delight is understandable.

“To have a proper season of Test cricket, I’m thrilled,” the Proteas red ball coach said.

Conrad, like his limited-overs counterpart Rob Walter, took over coaching duties in February last year, but unlike Walter, who has been through two World Cups, Test cricket has been peripheral for the Proteas. 

Conrad has overseen just six Tests, spread over 18 months, and two of those featured a “C team” for the trip to New Zealand because of the priority given to the SA20 by Cricket SA.

After the West Indies, the Proteas play two Tests in Bangladesh, and then four on home soil this summer — two against Sri Lanka and two against Pakistan. “It’s a run of eight Tests that will have a bearing on where we end on the World Test Championship log. So that creates the kind of pressure that you want associated with Test cricket.

“The last time this group would have been together was the one-and-a-half day debacle at Newlands against India [in January],” said Conrad, further highlighting the problematic hand he’s been dealt.   

Tomorrow he will name his squad for the two-match series against the West Indies that starts on August 7 in Trinidad. Unlike February when the SA20 held sway, all the household names are available, including skipper Temba Bavuma, who injured his hamstring on the first day of the opening Test with India last season.

“He is in a good space and really confident about where he is, both physically and mentally.”

With One-Day and T20 cricket dominating the calendar, Conrad has had to use different methods to assess players, but pointed out that performances in high pressure situations are similar despite the different formats. “The game isn’t only a test of technique, but also of your mental fortitude.

“It’s great to see, whether at the IPL or the T20 World Cup, a lot of our players are being exposed to these high pressure environments, and that they emerge with their reputations not just intact but enhanced.”

Conrad said Tristan Stubbs, who made his debut on that horrible Newlands pitch in January, had shown what a capable player he was, especially when the stakes were highest at the IPL and the World Cup.

“Stubbo is going to be part of our Test side for the future, and we know he has a good technique. If you can get through IPLs and World Cups the way he has, it will stand him in good stead in the Test series.” 

Another player who has justified Conrad’s backing is David Bedingham, who followed up his maiden Test century in that New Zealand series with a stunning run of form for Durham in Division One of the County Championship in the UK.

Bedingham is currently the leading run-scorer in the top division. “It’s what we want from our players, wherever they play. IPLs, World Cups, the County scene, is for them to dominate. It’s gratifying for me as a coach,” said Conrad.