Conrad cool about pressure facing Proteas

Pressure and the Proteas' inability to deal with it will be the dominating theme for the players, coaching staff (permanent and interim), selectors and Cricket SA’s senior management until the side secures — or does not — qualification for the 2023 World Cup. 

Temba Bavuma’s side faces the ultimate test against world champions England in the next week, right in the middle of an SA20 tournament that has excited the public beyond what anyone could have predicted.

Shukri Conrad, the Proteas’ new Test coach, who is standing in for white-ball colleague Rob Walter for the three ODIs against England, hopes to ride the wave of excitement generated by the tournament for the series that starts in Bloemfontein on Friday. 

“I don’t think we are competing with the SA20 League, I’d like to see it as an ally. The one thing I have seen is that people in South Africa are still very much in love with cricket,” he said. 

Not that he needed reminding, but Conrad was nudged regarding the reputation the Proteas have created for themselves when under pressure.

“It feels like I’ve got a few different versions of the same question,” he uttered at one point. Indeed that was the case. When it comes to dealing with pressure, they aren’t very good, with the most recent example coming against the Netherlands at the T20 World Cup in November. That outcome left Bavuma a broken man. 

A few months down the road and again they are confronted with pressure, with their qualification for the World Cup in India on the line. The Proteas need to win at least three and possibly all of their next five ODIs to ensure automatic qualification for this year’s 50-over showpiece. 

After this series, their other two matches are against the Netherlands and, as that fateful Sunday at the Adelaide Oval illustrated, nothing can be taken for granted. 

Conrad is a wise and pragmatic individual, so he knows there’s nothing that can be done about the past. What he can control is the squad’s preparation and mindset this week.

“We and I understand this sounds like a cliché, but we need to focus on our process. We cannot focus all our energies on this week only. There’s a reason we are where we are,” he said. 

“Even if the position was different, it would still be a high-pressure series. We are not going to focus on what the potential outcomes will be if we don’t get over the line in this series. It’s about focusing on those key moments in the game, identifying them and being able to take the right option, hopefully an aggressive one.” 

It’s not been the easiest build-up for the two teams. England have had eight members of their squad, including captain Jos Buttler, participating in the SA20, a few others flew in from Dubai, where they played in another T20 tournament, while a couple more and the management team jetted in from England.

The Proteas gathered by Wednesday morning, with a first squad meeting taking place in the evening. There is no doubt the SA20 will be a prime topic of conversation and while that tournament has generated plenty of interest, Conrad doesn’t view it as something that should be used as a gauge of the national team's popularity. 

Ticket sales are understood to be sluggish, but Conrad, referencing Nick Mallet’s axing as Springbok manager in 2000, said he wasn’t yet going to concern himself with how many people would pull through the gates at Mangaung Oval.

“Bloemfontein hasn’t had much cricket. I’m pretty confident the people of Bloemfontein and surrounds will turn out to watch a South African side they haven’t seen play in a long while.”