Shukri Conrad gives stern reply to commentators on South Africa’s WTC run

Shukri Conrad gives stern repliy to commentators on South Africa’s WTC run (Photo Source: X(Twitter)

South Africa became the first team to make it to the World Test Championship (WTC) Final in the 2023-25 cycle after they beat Pakistan in the Boxing Day Test in Centurion. Notably, the summit clash will be played at the iconic Lords ground. Interestingly, this will be another opportunity for them to win an ICC event that they have not won since the 1998 ICC Knockout Trophy.

This was a historic achievement for the South African team but it turns out they still have some experts who are making fun of their journey to the final by saying that they have not won against worthy opponents. In the same vein, the former England Skipper, Michael Vaughan had berated the team saying that they have reached the final on the back of beating nobody, whereas former Aussie spinner Kerry O’ Keeffe has compared South Africa’s run to making the Wimbledon final without playing a seed on the way.

However, South Africa‘s Head Coach, Shukri Conrad, was seemingly not happy with the statements made by the commentators and has termed them as incorrect and an insult. Quite fascinatingly, he reminded them of how teams who have not done well in the past and were posed as weaker teams ended up beating the likes of India and Australia in their den.

“One of the nobodies we beat won a Test match in Australia – West Indies beat Australia in a Test match, They are not nobody. New Zealand beat India: three-zip in India. New Zealand is not a nobody. Sri Lanka won Test matches [against England and New Zealand]. I don’t buy this thing about us beating nobody. You tell any side to go and win six on the bounce, in places you haven’t won in a decade and with a young side, with a decimated bowling attack and when you do that, you come back and tell me that we’ve beaten nobody.” Conrad said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Conrad has problems with the WTC scheduling

The comments were not the only factor that upset Shukri Conrad. The South African coach expressed his displeasure over the way the ICC was scheduling the WTC matches. He pointed out how the Rainbow Nation did not play some of the teams at all during the two-year cycle.

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“What do I say to the people who are jumping up and down? Look, with the little bit of math I did, percentages are probably the ideal way of working it out. Let’s assume we play 12 [Tests] now and we win six, then we end up with 50%. Because some other teams play 20 Tests, is it okay for them to lose 10 and be the same? You still have to win more than you lose and get your percentages up, irrespective of who you play against,” Conrad concluded.