Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad explains his philosophy and shares details on how he aims to fix the Proteas’ obvious batting troubles, writes Khalid Mohidin.
We have been facing dark times in South African cricket recently. The Test side was convincingly beaten by a few teams over the last 4-5 years. Against India and Sri Lanka, we failed against spin. In England, we struggled against the world-class swing kings. In Australia, we could not handle the skill and pace of their bowlers, on pitches that were a little spicy.
Batters, who normally would perform in the past, suddenly had visible lapses in their techniques.
It’s imperative that the Test coach finds a way to correct this. He was open and honest about the issues in our cricket, which is very clear for all to see.
“The batting is a problem,” said Conrad exclusively to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.
“What I’d like to, when I do sit down, is to identify the issues. It’s obviously a great time to press the reset button now, because my question is quite simple, ‘if not now then when?’
“We only have a few Test matches this year. So the conversations will be around who the players are that we want to take forward. I need to engage with Dean Elgar, who is our Test captain, and see what his thoughts are. Then share that with the selectors.
“Director of Cricket Enoch Nkwe has a good idea of how and where I want to take the Test side and then obviously for me, I need to share that with the selectors. But ultimately the batting is a concern. We have to make sure we get the right players on the park. This means picking the guys that are performing at the level that they are supposed to be performing at.
“If you are a Test player, the question is ‘have you been performing at a Test match level?’ If the answer is no, then we need to have a conversation.
“If the only level that you’ve been playing at is a domestic level and you have really been performing there, is it the right time for you to really take the step up?”
If you follow Cricket Fanatics Magazine’s Daily Show on Youtube, you would know that we have been critical of the selection of some players. We often talk specifically about our batting and how important conversion rates are when identifying potential Test cricketers.
The premise is that if selectors had a choice between picking a younger cricketer (maybe two/three years domestic experience) who is converting their 50s into 100s more regularly, and a player who has maybe 70-100 domestic games but has way more half-centuries than he has centuries, then the former should be prioritised. Conrad gave us his view on this ideology.
“At the end of the day, the currency remains runs,” he explained. “You can come with a fancy philosophy, you can come with a fancy brand of how you want to play; yes the brand and the culture are important, but then you have to match that up with the right characters. But at the end of the day, cricket is a stats-based game.
“You have got to put the numbers up and if the numbers match up to what the requirements are, then these players need to be seriously considered.
“Similarly, if the numbers aren’t matching up, i.e. guys playing in the Test side – look I’ve been around long enough to know batters go through tough periods, bad spells, a bad series or two – there in comes the smartness.
“You talk about conversion rates. You go back to the domestic level and look at who the guys are who have the ability to convert regularly and whose record speaks to that. So all of what you mentioned is hella important and those are definitely things I’ll be looking at seriously.”
When it comes to Conrad’s coaching philosophy, it is a “simple one”.
“You have to look at the conditions and play accordingly. You have to play it with an aggressive mindset, you must look for opportunity,” he answered.
“When I say opportunity – as a batter, the opportunity to score runs. As a bowler, the ability to take wickets. Simple. It’s not this rocket science where I have sat down and said ‘hey I want to reinvent the wheel’, it’s not that.
“Also if you see globally – and this is not me saying that we must jump on the English bandwagon – the trends are there and you’d be a fool to ignore the trends that are happening globally.
“Guys are transitioning from T20 cricket into Test cricket now, rather than in years gone by. The old adage was that the player must get to know his game in first-class cricket and then he can become a good white-ball player. Things have changed with so many leagues around the world.
“We have got to understand that the leagues are part and parcel of our cricket. It’s not going to go away, we must start seeing it as an ally rather than an enemy. I can say comfortably, and quite categorically, that our top players, still want to play Test cricket. But we have to allow them to go and make really good money in all these leagues as well. I run a very simple ship, it’s nothing major, and it’s not rocket science.”
Conrad has a reputation for being a demanding, tough coach and straightforward. Some may even say “blunt” at times.
ALSO READ: SHUKRI CONRAD AIMS TO DEVELOP “HARDENED, TOUGH & SMART CRICKETERS”
However, this approach doesn’t work on every player, which he confirmed.
“You have to be alert to all the different types of personalities. You have got to be in touch with the modern world.
“Although I am a very old-school type of guy, I’ve got a really good sense of what the modern-day young people are about. Different strokes for different folks”, he admitted.
“Yes I base my philosophy on honesty, and sometimes players might feel that my honesty is too honest for them. They all cry out for honesty saying ‘coach you have to be honest with us’, but when you bring the honesty, sometimes they say ‘no that’s too honest for me’.
“I’m certainly not this oke [guy] that stands there and kicks the bucket like your famous football manager (Sir Alex Ferguson) did – I wish I could be as half as good as he was though.
“Look, it’s a simple thing. You have different guys that you treat differently, but you want them to be the best person they can be so that it can then enable them to be the best cricketer as well.
“So I’m all for the player to be himself and me just being the sounding board for him. All these players are very good cricketers, and I have to provide support from my side and my support staff as well. Ultimately, we have got to enable these guys. We have to allow them to be who they are, together with our support.”
Feature Photo: Kimberly Oval , Kimberly / Pic Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
