“To win every key moment and win 3-0 at the end of it,” were the words echoed by newly appointed Proteas test coach Shukri Conrad ahead of the crucial ODI series against England set to kick off on Friday. | ✍️ Avuyile Sawula
The Proteas will be back in ODI action against England on Friday. However, this time around a new leadership group will be watching from the dugout. Shukri Conrad will take charge of the side and despite the ODI side not being his main priority going forward, the 55-year-old wants to win.
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Conrad will take charge of the team as caretaker coach for the series until Rob Walter returns to South Africa.
Despite the ODI side not being his main priority going forward, the 55-year-old understands the importance of the series and is embracing the pressure that comes with it as the Proteas find themselves in danger of missing out on automatic qualification.
“There’s a reason why we are where we are; even if the position was different, it would still be a high-pressure series,” said Conrad.
“Every international match you play and represent your country, that’s high pressure in itself.
“As any coach would tell you, it’s really about the process we need to be following; we cannot focus all our energies on this week only.”
The last time South Africa played an ODI series, was against India in October last year, losing 2-1.
In saying so, the selected players for this particular series are a duplicate of the previous series, with the new faces being Marco Jansen and Sisanda Magala.
With the team low on confidence and feeling the pressure to produce results, Conrad believes that they shouldn’t be “paralysed” by the situation they find themselves in but instead focus on playing good, aggressive cricket.
“At the end of the day, if we can play really good cricket and start building on how we know we can play and not be paralysed by the situation we find ourselves in.
“We certainly aren’t going to be focusing on what the potential outcome will be if we don’t get over the line in this series; it’s all about focusing on these key moments in the game, identifying them, and then being able to take the right options, and hopefully that’s quite an aggressive option.”
Conrad has been open about how he and Walter intend to collaborate to achieve success in their respective formats since he was appointed Proteas coach.
On Wednesday, he further admitted that he had been in constant conversations with Walter, describing their relationship as “fabulous.”
“Yeah, there have been lots of conversations,” he said.
“Rob and I have a fabulous relationship, and we’re in conversation every day in terms of what we need to be looking out for.
“Obviously, I’m on the ground, and he’s 11 hours ahead of me, so I’m being entrusted to look after selection and look after matters.”
“This is my series now, but I’m in constant conversations with Rob, and there’s been a really good sharing of ideas that happens daily,” he concluded.
Play between South Africa and England for the first ODI at the Mangaung Oval will begin at 13:30.
