Head coach Shukri Conrad had a clear plan which culminated in South Africa winning last year’s World Test Championship final, but he has shaken things up as he plots a first major white-ball trophy at the T20 World Cup. “One thing I did from a long way out was to bring some stability to the Test squad,” the South African head coach told AFP.
Stability has, of necessity, been lacking from the T20 team’s build-up ahead of the World Cup, where South Africa start against Canada in Ahmedabad on Monday. Thirty-one players have been used in 21 matches since the white-ball team was added to Conrad’s responsibilities last May.
Results were paramount in the Test campaign, with points at stake in every match and the win in the final against Australia at Lord’s was South Africa’s eighth in a row. In contrast, the T20 side has won only eight matches while losing 13 under Conrad ahead of the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka.
But Conrad is upbeat about their chances of breaking their white-ball duck after they registered their first T20 series win under his tenure against the West Indies on Sunday. “Yes, we used a lot of players — deliberately so,” he said. “We always had to prioritise Test cricket, which meant managing the wellbeing of our players.”
Leading fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen played only seven T20 matches in that period.
But a highly competitive SA20 franchise competition enabled players to find form under pressure before the World Cup squad came together.
A significant difference in adapting to the shortest format after a long Test campaign is the type of cricket needed. Modern Test pitches suit a South African team strong in bowling but short of batting superstars.
“Having such a good bowling attack is always going to keep us in games. We had to find a way of posting competitive totals,” said Conrad. It put a premium on what Conrad calls “character above cover drives” — batsmen willing to grind out scores. The nature of T20 cricket means bat dominates ball, although “skilful bowlers remain skilful bowlers,” according to Conrad and batsmen need to clear boundaries rather than eke out long innings.
South Africa suffered an agonising defeat in the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup after playing themselves into a winning position against India in Barbados.
Conrad believes the core values and team spirit that clinched the World Test Championship will spill over into a squad which includes eight players who were at the Lord’s final. “There is a belief that we can mix it with anyone,” he said. A batting line-up which includes captain Aiden Markram, a rejuvenated Quinton de Kock, the exciting Dewald Brevis and the experienced David Miller has the ability to post big totals.
And bowlers such as Rabada, Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi are able to take crucial wickets during the powerplay. South Africa could potentially play five matches at Ahmedabad, the world’s biggest cricket stadium, including their first three group matches.
“It is an advantage to get used to certain grounds and it also means less travel,” said Conrad. But he is not looking too far ahead. With tricky group matches against Afghanistan and New Zealand to come, “the first priority is to make sure you get out of the round-robin phase”.