The Proteas may not be playing in a Test match on home soil this summer, but 2025 is still going to be extremely busy for the newly minted World Test champions.
“It’s chock-a-block the rest of the year,” coach Shukri Conrad said of the schedule. There’s still more refreshments to be drunk, celebratory functions to attend, but the next assignment is a week away, at a venue far removed from the plush surrounds of Lord’s.
Conrad said he is looking forward to facing Zimbabwe at the Queen’s Sport’s Club in Bulawayo, from June 28. South Africa face their neighbours in two Tests, with a vastly changed side from the group that defeated Australia last week.
In addition to Kagiso Rabada, Aiden Markram, Marco Jansen, Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton, Cricket South Africa confirmed on Friday Temba Bavuma would also miss the series because of the left hamstring strain he suffered in the final at Lord’s. Lungi Ngidi is only available for the second Test.
Conrad said workload management lay behind the decision to rest the players who play in all three formats. After Zimbabwe, there are tours to Australia, England, Pakistan and then India, and besides the pair of Test match series in the subcontinent, the primary focus this year is on the ODIs and T20 formats.
The management of the players is a new challenge for Conrad, who took over the head coaching duties of the limited-overs teams officially last month after Rob Walter’s resignation.
Cornrad's new goals
The next phase of Conrad’s tenure will be more strenuous than the first two years, but he is happy to embrace the new challenges that await. He has created new goals; there’s already a short-term strategy in place for next year’s T20 World Cup in India, the longer-term strategy about the 50-over side will be sharpened over the next 12 months, while a defence of the World Test Championship will garner priority status, especially later this year when the Proteas travel to the subcontinent.
With regard to the latter, the inclusion of Prenelan Subrayan for the Tests in Zimbabwe is being done with one eye on the two series South Africa will play in Pakistan and India. Subrayen has been the best off-spinner in the domestic game in the last few seasons, and combining him with Keshav Maharaj is an experiment Conrad wants to conduct in the less pressurised matches in Bulawayo.
The Proteas coach is contemplating starting three front-line spinners in those subcontinent series, and along with Senuran Muthusamy — who is also not playing in Zimbabwe — South Africa would have the bowling armoury to make the Pakistanis and Indians uncomfortable.
The limited-overs stuff is trickier simply because a fine balance needs to be struck between the two formats. Heinrich Klaasen’s international retirement was an unexpected blow. It robbed the Proteas of white ball cricket’s most devastating batter for a T20 World Cup taking place in conditions he has thrived in over the last few years.
It also means the development of Dewald Brevis and Lhuan-dre Pretorius — both of whom are in the Test squad for Zimbabwe — is going to happen earlier than may have been anticipated.
Despite Klaasen’s retirement, South Africa’s limited-overs batting still looks strong on paper. It’s likely that Stubbs will be given time to cement the No 3 spot in both formats, while Markram is an excellent No 4, leading a middle order that still has the services of David Miller — though he may miss the series on account of his “hybrid” contract that enables him to play in T20 Leagues.
Rassie van der Dussen is another on a “hybrid” deal, and is keen to help with the transition to the next ODI World Cup, even if he doesn’t play in it.
Conrad's new option
Matthew Breetzke, who made a hundred on debut in February, offers another option at the top of the order and, although Reeza Hendricks is still among the nationally contracted group. Pretorius’s thunderous approach at the top of the order fits the way the Proteas need to play the T20 format, if they are to go one step further than they managed in Barbados last year.
The middle order doesn’t have as many options; Markram and Miller provide experience, but Conrad will have to work his magic to get Brevis to transfer his excellent domestic form to the international stage.
Much like Brevis and Pretorius, Kwena Maphaka is another whose growth needs to be accelerated in the next year. The 19-year-old made his Test debut in January, and will likely lead the attack in the first Test in Bulawayo. There is a potentially strong set of quick bowlers for Conrad to choose from, but doubts over Gerald Coetzee’s fitness and Nandre Burger’s return from a stress fracture, could see Maphaka become a regular member of the national team.
The big concern about him at the moment is that he doesn’t play enough matches. Careful management of a teenager is understandable, but a lack of match time can also negatively affect growth.
Conrad will know that, and said recently that having just one coach will make planning about players’ availability easier. “All I need to do is chat to the players about it.”
Frank, open communication
Through his work with the Test side, he’s shown that his frank and open communication style is appreciated by the players, breeding comfort and confidence.
Both Bavuma and Conrad in the immediate aftermath of the triumph at Lord’s spoke about it as being just the beginning. Bavuma wants to match the consistency of Graeme Smith’s great side of 2012 and mentioned how the WTC must be a catalyst for success in the limited-overs formats, starting in India next year and culminating in South Africa in 2027.
They will now be looked at very differently than was the case two weeks ago. No longer “chokers”, they’re a team with substance in addition to style. But that also puts a target on their backs, something South African teams aren’t used to.
It may be that next week Zimbabwe gives that inexperienced team Conrad selected a scare on day one, providing proof that there is no time for resting on laurels. But as the next journey starts, it is clear that South Africa, like their captain said, can take those steps with their chests out, confident about the options at their disposal and the way that they play.
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