Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad has made four changes to his team to face the West Indies in the second and final test match at the Wanderers on Wednesday.
Conrad, who included Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, and Simon Harmer, emphasized the importance of giving everyone a “run” and said the aim is to build a “settled” squad by the end of the year.
“This is not changing the side for the sake of changing the team,” he said.
“I think we all know that Anrich has been ruled out, and I think that Marco deserves a bit of a break; his body has been through a heck of a lot in the last two months.”
“So it’s not a case of just changing, we have a good idea of what the guys are about, and for me, it’s come the end of the year when India arrive at our shores, and we wanna have a settled squad, so we can be quite fluid in our selections,” he added.
The Proteas will enter the second test match with a 1-0 lead after an 87-run win a week ago.
However, Conrad believes the team was far from convincing and says patience is required with the batting order.
“There’s a lot of talk about how we want to play our game, and it will often play itself out in the batting department.”
“It’s no secret that we weren’t particularly good at Centurion, yes, we got away with a good result, but truth be told, we weren’t good, the West Indies were good, and the wicket was tough.”
“The brand will take a bit longer on the batting front, and I think on the bowling front, the brand was great because we played four quicks and we showed what we’re about there; I think there’s just a little patience required in terms of the batting side,” added Conrad.
This test will be South Africa’s last match before a lengthy break begins until the Proteas take on India at the end of the year. However, with conversations about the lack of Test matches rising from both South Africa and the West Indies, the 55-year-old says both teams need to play attractive cricket for the world to take notice.
“We need to be playing more Test cricket, and we can’t be excluded based on not being a leading light in test cricket; we are, and so are the West Indies,” he said.
“The sad reality is that in a place like the West Indies and certainly not here, the lack of test cricket or the lack of the national side playing in the test arena might mean that interest starts waining, and that’s a place you never want to reach.”
“Because once a young star does not have that burning ambition and desire to play for his country, that spells the beginning of the end, so hopefully both sides can put in performances that make people sit up,” he concluded.
The second and final Test between South Africa and the West Indies will start at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday at the Wanderers.
STARTING XI:
1. Aiden Markram
2. Dean Elgar
3. Tony de Zorzi
4. Temba Bavuma (c)
5. Ryan Rickelton
6. Heinrich Klaasen
7. Wiaan Mulder
8. Simon Harmer
9. Keshav Maharaj
10. Kagiso Rabada
11. Gerald Coetzee
