Shukri Conrad hopes ‘grovel’ remark is put to bed, acknowledging the poor word choice

The Proteas wrapped up the One Day International series against India on Saturday with a nine-wicket loss to the hosts. It means the 50-over section of the tour to India concluded with a 2-1 series loss.

It came after the Test series where South Africa claimed an incredible 2-0 series victory, with the two sides set to face off in a three-match T20 series this week.

And while South Africa’s first victory in the country for 25 years stole most of the headlines, just below, the words of head coach Shukri Conrad on day four of the second Test match stuck.

“We wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field,” Conrad said at the time. “We wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase, [and] bat them completely out of the game.”

There was outrage and disappointment from several corners of the cricketing fraternity, particularly from India, with commentators and ex-players all dissecting Conrad’s choice of phrase.

It was not a slip of the tongue by the South African coach. As a scholar of the game, he knew what the phrase was he chose to steal. It can’t be put down to ignorance.

But it wasn’t wholly malicious either. Conrad giggled as the word came out of his mouth, as if to wipe some of the bad history off the word.

It doesn’t excuse the usage but the context is important.

Being humble

South Africa had batted deep into day four at that point and had only given themselves about four sessions to bowl India out in Guwahati.

Conrad had not spoken to the media since that day on 25 November, which gave everyone else nearly two weeks to analyse his words before he held a post-match press-conference on Saturday.

After several Proteas players before him had to bat away questions at press conferences about why their coach used the word “grovel”, given its historical context, Conrad cleared the air.

“On reflection, it was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything,” he said.

“I could have chosen a better word, on reflection, because it left it open to people putting their own context to it, [whereas] the only context I ever intended it to be was for India to spend a lot of time and make it really tough for them.

“I have to be careful what word I use here now, because context could be attached to that as well. It’s really a pity.”

Context

“Grovel” is not a particularly kind word. The second edition of the South African Oxford dictionary defines it as to “crawl on the ground, especially in a show of fear or humility”, while the Merriam-Webster definition reads: “To lie or creep with the body prostrate in token of subservience or abasement.”

Other definitions are slightly gentler and perhaps those were the ones Conrad read.

“With all the noise that that word caused – I still think it’s a perfectly good English word – it just left it open to too many interpretations,” he said.

While the word is not kind, it’s not innately racist. And had the word been used by a coach in a different sport it is likely that there would not have been as much uproar.

But within cricket, when South African-born former England captain Tony Greig used “grovel” to describe his side’s intentions against the touring West Indies side in 1976, those negative connotations were immediately attached to the word.

Greig, a man raised in apartheid South Africa, used the word against a touring West Indies side which added the undertones of slavery, racism and colonisation to the word, which remain attached to the word nearly 50 years later.

It wasn’t a smart choice of words from a man who before this, in his stint as Proteas head coach, has chosen his words sagaciously and outside of the formal press conferences often displays his quick wit.

Conrad is shrewd. He speaks frankly. But on this occasion, he used the wrong word.

And while it wasn’t his intention, some of the attention from a fabulous, rare series win in India was shifted to him.

“What it did was take away the gloss of what was a really special win for our test team,” he said.

“Look, it’s unfortunate, but like I said, there was definitely no malice intended.

“Being humble is a cornerstone of our test team, and all our teams for that matter. And it’s unfortunate that the noise and the talk became around the coach – people shouldn’t really even know who the coach is – it should be about the players.

“That’s the unfortunate bit, and I’d like to think that it’s going to be put to bed now.”

Flexible attitude

Tactically, Conrad has shown an uncanny ability to make left-field selections which, so far, have paid off handsomely in the Proteas’ success.

He faced criticism for them, such as selecting Wiaan Mulder to bat at three during the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s, and persisting with the decision thereafter.

But he hasn’t shied away from continuing to make big calls.

That headstrong on-field streak hasn’t leaked into his off-field personality, however, with the coach having the humility on this occasion to put his hand up and acknowledge a poor choice of words.

“On reflection [I] could have been smarter,” he said. “And I need to reiterate again, there was definitely no malice intended.” DM