Shukri Conrad urges South Africa to improve after Test series victory

South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad has stated that the Proteas’ recent Test series victory over Australia marks just the beginning of their progress, as they aim for a second consecutive ICC World Test Championship title.

The South African team secured a 2-1 win in the home Test series against Australia, which moved them to second place in the World Test Championship standings and strengthened their chances of qualifying for next year’s final.

Although pleased with the team’s performance, Conrad emphasised that there is still significant room for improvement as South Africa prepare for upcoming fixtures within the championship cycle. The Proteas have several Tests scheduled at home, including two matches against Bangladesh, a three-match series against England, and two matches against Sri Lanka.

“I still think there are one or two things that will make us the best version. But my gosh, I wouldn’t have thought this a couple of days ago that we’d stand here. In the same breath, I’m also not surprised because that lot have it in them to do amazing things,” Conrad said, as reported on the ICC website.

Conrad also revealed that South Africa’s best playing eleven remains a work in progress. He intends to continue rotating players to find an optimal balance and combinations for winning Tests and series. This strategy may involve difficult selection decisions, including leaving out players who contributed to South Africa’s inaugural World Test Championship triumph at Lord’s last year, while giving opportunities to emerging players such as Marques Ackerman and Matthew Breetzke, who featured in the Australia series.

“We’re getting the best XI on the bus. We’ve just got to find the right seats for them. The important bit is that very often you need to be quite malleable as a player also. You take Marques, for example, who’s come in and taken [to Test cricket] like a duck to water. He’s still going to mess things up because of the way he plays, but he is a character that I don’t want to stymie in any way,” Conrad added.

While the South Africa coach is confident about the team’s position to qualify for another World Test Championship final, he said he is focusing only on the immediate future as the Proteas prepare to host Bangladesh for two Tests later this month. “Every Test series becomes the biggest Test series and the next Test series is the biggest Test series of the summer,” he remarked.

Conrad warned of the challenge Bangladesh will pose, noting their effective pace attack suited to conditions in South Africa’s Highveld region and their recent victory over Australia. “Let’s not forget that they not so long ago beat Australia. It’s critical for us that we take the good from here, look at where we can get better and make sure we hit the ground running against Bangladesh in a few weeks,” he concluded.