On eve of the Proteas’ tour to New Zealand in February last year, Shukri Conrad asked that he be judged at the end of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.
He’d been in the job a year, and based on the four Tests he’d overseen as head coach, Conrad gave himself a pass mark of 75% for his first year in charge. “We’ve won three out of four (Tests), that’s 75%. The numbers don’t lie,” Conrad, a former school teacher, told the Sunday Times.
Eighteen months down the line, the world and times have changed. Conrad and the Proteas reached the WTC final at Lord’s, an achievement that seemed nigh on impossible when he picked a side he likened to “Burnley going to Anfield”, for that trip to New Zealand.
It’s hard not to conclude that the first half of his tenure has been a success. Outsiders may have questioned the legitimacy of South Africa’s qualification for the 2025 WTC final, but the route to Lord’s was far from easy.
Conrad admitted to mistakes in selection, he’s angered some players — including Ryan Rickelton and Lungi Ngidi, who were in the starting team for the final — and made what he described as “haphazard selections”. However, this team is, as batting coach Ashwell Prince described it on Friday, “a tight group”.
Conrad has created an environment in which players feel comfortable in their own skin. In the case of Rickelton, Ngidi and Kyle Verreynne — whom he didn’t pick at the start of his tenure — he has welcomed them confronting him about why they’ve not been selected.
There is a bruising honesty that the players have welcomed.
It’s not about proving anybody wrong.
— Ashwell Prince, batting coach
He’s also made the point of not shying away from tension or have the players try to pretend they’re not scared. Before that run-chase at Centurion against Pakistan last December, he confronted the players about the soft mindset that has historically been associated with South African teams. “It didn’t go down kindly, but at some stage that conversation needed to be had,” Conrad remarked last week.
But he’s also encouraged and cajoled them — in the case of Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada, he shared a cigarette with them at lunch time during that tense run chase at SuperSport Park. “It’s not about proving anybody wrong,” said Prince.
“But I think the important thing from Shukri’s point of view also is to make the players aware of how good they are, and that’s a big thing. They are good players and if you take them lightly you might come short.”
Yesterday afternoon, Conrad stood at Lord’s, hiding his tears as he celebrated the greatest achievement of his coaching career. Again, he talked of the players and what it meant for them. He’s always worked in service of the players but yesterday’s triumph was also a victory for his methods.
Of course, with that victory come expectations, more pressure, but Conrad knows how to provide a perspective that will be of great value to the players.
In two weeks’ time, the Proteas will face Zimbabwe in the first of two Tests in Bulawayo. It’s not part of the 2027 WTC cycle, but it does offer an opportunity to examine some of the young talent that has emerged in the last few years. Most notably, Lhuan-dre Pretorius and Dewald Brevis have been selected, and their progress will be of great importance to the Proteas in the next two years.
But it is the prospect of coaching the T20 and ODI sides that will test Conrad, who was handed the reins of the limited-overs teams after Rob Walter resigned in April. The Proteas may not have any Test cricket on their schedule at home next summer, but there is a T20 World Cup in India in February, and 18 months later the 50-over World Cup in South Africa.
That tournament, coupled with the next World Test Championship cycle, are two primary goals that Cricket SA has set for the Proteas to win. It had been the long-term plan, when Conrad was appointed in 2023, and now he is responsible for ensuring all of it comes to fruition.
Like the messages he has imparted to the players, Conrad won’t shy away from confronting the many subjects in his in-box.
