The South Africa Shukri Conrad has reacted to Michael Vaughan’s criticism of Proteas being qualified for the WTC final after playing only 12 matches and not facing Australia or England.
They were the first team to book a spot at Lord’s after they reeled off six successive wins and qualified with a game to spare.
“I’m never going to apologise for getting into the final,” told Conrad. “It’s the biggest thing in this team’s existence. It’s the biggest thing for South African cricket at the moment. It’s the biggest thing for Test cricket, for world cricket, where the right noises are going to start being made.”
Former England Captain Michael Vaughan said South Africa got to final “on the back of beating pretty much nobody” and they don’t “warrant being in the World Test Championship final with whom they have played over the last two years” while former Australia spinner Kerry O’Keeffe called South Africa’s run “like making the Wimbledon final without playing a seed on the way”.
But Conrad had different opinion saying that is both incorrect and an insult to the opposition South Africa faced. One of the nobodies we beat won a Test match in Australia – West Indies beat Australia in a Test match,” Conrad said.
“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.”
Because of South Africa’s shortage of fixture and because they sent an understrength side that lost 2-0 to New Zealand last February every test since their tour to the West Indies in August was almost a must win.
South Africa won that series 1-0. Then, they went to Bangladesh where captain Temba Bavuma could not play after an elbow injury, which resulted in them fielding the eighth and 11th least capped teams in the cycle, but they won their first series in the subcontinent in a decade.
South Africa has been marred by bowling injuries as Wiaan Mulder and Gerald Coetzee hence Proteas have had to dig deeply into their reserves. But still they came up with teams that beat Sri Lanka 2-0 and have now taken the lead against Pakistan.
“Hopefully, the ICC is going to take control, whoever is going to take control, make it more even or more fair. But I’m not going to sit here and apologise.”
South Africa have won seven out of 11 tests and have a winning percentage of 66.67%. Even if they second test of the Pakistan tour of South Africa 2024-25, their percentage will be 61.11 which will be enough to finish in the top two.
“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 ten and be the same? You still have to win more than you lose and get your percentages up, irrespective of who you play against.”
“The SA20 has to happen because it is the lifeblood of South African cricket,” Shukri Conrad said last January. “If it doesn’t happen, we are not going to have Test cricket anyway. We’ve got to find a way to coexist with the league, we’ve got to co-exist with leagues around the world to ensure the sustainability of the game,” concluded Shukri Conrad.
The test series will form part of the 2025-27 cycle of the WTC in which South Africa will play both England and Australia in the three test series each, after travelling to Pakistan and India later this year.
The second match of the South Africa-Pakistan tests will begin on January 03 at Newlands Cricket Ground.
