Shukri Conrad prioritises youth and performance in revamped Proteas with eye on World Cups

When Rob Walter stepped down — in a shock move — as white-ball coach of the national team at the start of April, it was a no-brainer as to who would take over.

It took just more than a month for Shukri Conrad to be announced as the new leader of the white-ball side, as Director of National Teams and High Performance Enoch Nkwe went through the necessary process of conducting interviews with several applicants.

But there was only one man the head of national teams wanted in charge of the Proteas across formats. At the time Conrad had led the Proteas to the final of the World Test Championship, and a couple of weeks later had claimed the Test mace against Australia at Lord’s in England.

It’s been a terrific start to international coaching for Conrad — who has been a long-serving domestic and academy coach in the country — having initially only taken over the Test reins at the start of 2023 when both he and Walter were appointed.

Conrad’s first task was actually in the white-ball space when he took charge of the side at the end of January that year against England, while Walter was still tied up with commitments in New Zealand, where he still lives and is currently the coach of the Black Caps.

Although not in a formal capacity, as Walter was the official head coach, that was Conrad’s first success with the side, claiming a 2-1 series win — which was integral in securing South Africa’s ticket to the Cricket World Cup that year.

Changes

Understandably, there wasn’t too much tinkering with the side then, as it wasn’t his team to juggle around with. But now, in his official capacity as all-format coach, Conrad has quickly made his mark.

During his first press conference as white-ball coach, Conrad made it clear that players would not be selected for World Cups if they were not available to be selected for bilateral series.

This decision was made to ensure players prioritised playing for South Africa over playing for franchise leagues.

David Miller was the initial exception to that rule, having signed up to play in The Hundred — England’s franchise competition — prior to Conrad’s appointment.

This was to ensure a renewed focus on bilateral cricket while building towards next year’s T20 World Cup and 2027’s home 50-over World Cup, simultaneously.

The players Conrad considers all-format players were rested for the T20 tri-series against Zimbabwe and New Zealand in July, in which Walters’ Black Caps prevailed in the final against South Africa.

South Africa took a full strength white-ball side to Australia last month (with the exception of Miller), where they lost the T20 series 2-1 before winning the ODI series 2-1.

They team is currently in England for the same number of T20s and ODIs, having taken an early lead in the ODI series.

“I’d be very surprised if the bulk of these guys aren’t on a flight to India for that World Cup,” Conrad said about the T20 squad currently in India.

Young bucks

Among the other changes he’s implemented are excluding the country’s most consistent ODI batters across the last six years from his 50-over squads, Rassie van der Dussen and Miller.

“I made this pretty clear to some of the older guys like Rassie and David… I want to see after the T20 World Cup where we’re at,” Conrad said about the 36-year-olds.

“Then obviously with these guys, look at what the next year and a bit could look like.

“I don’t want to get to a situation where we get to late 2026, early 2027, depending on when the (50-over) World Cup is, and you find that some of these older guys are not going to make it due to either form or fitness.

“Then I’ve lost an opportunity to play quite a few youngsters, and then you sit with a very inexperienced bunch.

“I’m certainly not discarding any of those older guys, but I see this as a great opportunity while we’ve got time on our hands to afford a lot of our younger bucks playing time and for them to gain the necessary experience.”

Among those “younger bucks” is Dewald Brevis, who has been backed fully by Conrad. The 22-year-old has played in every white-ball match that Conrad has headed up since taking on the role.

He has taken to the task superbly, which includes striking the highest-ever score in T20Is for South Africa with his undefeated 125 off 56 deliveries against Australia last month.

Brevis is a shoo-in to bat at No 4 for South Africa at the T20 World Cup next year, with the spots around him still up for grabs as he continues to fight for a position in the ODI side.

Conrad has shown that performances can change his mind, too. Spinner Keshav Maharaj’s time looked up on the international stage in the shortest format of the game when he was left out of the squad that took on Australia.

But a superb display of control in the ODIs, which included a maiden five-wicket haul in the format, a jump up to number one in the ODI bowling rankings and a player-of-the-series performance has seen the wily left-arm orthodox spinner recalled to the T20 national side in place of George Linde.

Conrad’s success in the Test format was quick, leading the side to their maiden ICC silverware at the first time of asking, within three years of holding the role.

He has even less time to capture the same success in the other formats.But if his red-ball success is anything to go by, Cricket South Africa’s decision to trust him to lead the team to the next two white-ball World Cups is a masterstroke. DM