Conrad on South Africa’s significant loss: A shock and a lesson

Throwed into the deep end, the South Africa head coach claims his young players now understand the ‘hard realities of Test cricket’.
Coach Shukri Conrad described South Africa’s Test players in New Zealand as “Burnley going to Anfield every week” and described their 281-run loss in the opening game as a “jolt and a wake-up call.”

The gap between Conrad’s team and New Zealand’s appears to have been felt in Mount Maunganui after South Africa was thoroughly outplayed and lost in four days, despite the fact that he had known for seven months that he would not have a full strength squad for the series due to player obligations to the SA20 and had prepared accordingly.

It’s not acceptable. We’re all having challenges here. Conrad remarked, “It’s like Burnley visiting Anfield every week.” You are aware that one play can win the match if it were a T20. It takes five days of nonstop work and pressure to pass the tests. You have to always be at the top of your game when playing a top team like New Zealand.”

In order to put things in perspective, Burnley, who are now ranked 19th in the English Premier League, will play Liverpool this weekend at Anfield.

Conrad said the players were “in decent spirits,” but acknowledged they had been forced to face the caliber of their own play. Six of the guys were making their Test debuts. “A number of them would have been hit hard by the harsh reality of life in Test cricket, and perhaps by the fact that they are still so far away. Many believe they are now closer to the Test side than they were previously “said the speaker. “You go through a few days like they have been through, and that’s a jolt and a wake-up call.”

He specifically criticized the team’s batting and fielding performances. Rachin Ravindra and Kane Williamson were both discarded by South Africa in the first innings, which proved to be very expensive. After the two shared a stand of 232, Williamson scored 118, Ravindra added 240, and South Africa ultimately gave up 511 runs.

You already know you’re going to have to survive off of breadcrumbs if we took our chances on day one. Occasionally, a slice will present itself and you will need to seize it with both hands. And we didn’t. It might have gone differently on that first day. Then, assuming we batted correctly.”

In the Test match, only David Bedingham achieved fifty runs for South Africa; Zubayr Hamza and Keegan Petersen were unable to exploit their starts. Conrad stated that considering the inexperience of the remaining batsmen, he anticipated more from the trio of hitters who had participated in Test matches prior to the New Zealand trip.

“Pressure does a hell of a lot of things to you,” he stated. It is simple to advise someone to “go out and back themselves,” but the brutal truth of Test cricket is that every move you make is magnified, and your technique is shredded on TV and elsewhere.

Conrad responded, “When Tony de Zorzi walked in to make his debut, he walked in after Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar,” when asked if the batting performance in particular was a critique of South Africa’s first-class system. “Temba Bavuma then entered at number four. At the test level, there was a lot of experience.

Had he taken the field for the first time the other day, he would have done so alongside someone who was also making their debut—and at three, that someone would have also been making their debut. At this point, none of these people had any experience. They lack Test experience despite having an abundance of first-class experience, and this is a huge gap that exists globally as well as in South Africa.”

Conrad’s observation that the current South African team possesses a certain amount of experience is supported by the fact that each player has an average of 96 first-class caps. However, it appears that their early aspirations to follow in the footsteps of the women’s team, who, during their current tour, defeated Australia in both a T20I and an ODI, were a little too high.

“Every time you play in a Test there’s an expectation that, even though maybe you can’t do all the swimming strokes, perhaps you can doggy paddle for a reasonable time and not drown,” Conrad stated. They have indeed been plunged into the deep end. However, it’s a fantastic chance for the players to raise their hands, return to the first-class system as a team, and share their experiences and requirements with the rest of the world. Hopefully, by doing so, we can raise the bar and avoid instilling expectations every time a player records a hundred runs or takes five wickets at the domestic level. Indeed, though, it’s a “sink or swim” scenario.”