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South Africa’s search for the “nice pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” in this World Test Championship (WTC) cycle is on after they kept themselves in the hunt for a place in the title bout with a series win over West Indies.
“With young and inexperienced batters, you almost factor in that every now and again you’re going to have a few aberrations with the bat. But the vital signs are there that we can go and become a really good test unit,” he said. “The skillsets are there. It’s really just experience we need. With experience, you’ll find fewer soft dismissals and less of the falling over when bowlers bowl well and we’ll be able to put up more of a fight with the bat.”
Mulder has only played three Tests in the last two years and has not been able to hold down a regular spot but Conrad indicated he could now be in line for a more consistent run. “Wiaan has obviously been in and around the Test side without getting a regular spot, and his performances sometimes haven’t warranted him getting a really good run. But at some stage, you give someone a run and you back them and you see where you come out,” Conrad said. “We always knew that Wiaan’s got the ability, and it’s great to see that he’s added a few yards [of pace] with the ball. He’d also be the first one to tell you that he’s slightly disappointed that he didn’t go on and convert the start he got in the second innings and make that a big one but that’s part of the process.”
Ultimately, South Africa’s conundrum throughout the series was team combination and they did not seem to get it quite right in either match. In Trinidad, they included a seventh specialist batter and appeared a spinner short; in Guyana, they left that batter out for a second spinner on a seamer-friendly pitch. Conrad said both teams were “caught off guard” by conditions in Guyana and South Africa fared slightly better because of the quality of their attack.
Maharaj is expected to continue playing an important role through the rest of this WTC cycle. South Africa have just six matches left – two in Bangladesh (scheduled for October) and two each at home against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in the 2024-25 summer. Every game carries an enormous weight of expectation but Conrad is happy for the challenge. “We know that if we win every Test match that there is that possibility (of getting to the final). And we’re really thrilled that there might be something for us at the end of this,” he said. “There’s World Cups in every other format and no reason why Test cricket shouldn’t have something like this.”