Much has been made of South Africa’s run to the 2025 World Test Championship final at Lord’s.
They played just 12 Tests – no team played fewer – and qualified after a home draw against India and a defeat in New Zealand, before beating the West Indies, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Mitigating this latest Test also comes from the fact that it is the first in almost a year and the majority of their batters played a domestic red-ball match to prepare.
Australia recently came out of an eight-month break and lost to Bangladesh at home, as Conrad was keen to point out.
And last summer’s famous victory against Australia and 2-0 success in India prove they can beat the best teams in the world.
However, this test only reinforced a worrying trend among South Africa’s batters.
Tristan Stubbs and Ryan Rickelton are excellent white-ball players, but Stubbs’ two Test centuries came against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, and Rickelton’s came against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
It was an obvious step forward.
In the first innings Stubbs, two overs after Wiaan Mulder had been bounced, pulled to fine leg, and in the second he played a loose drive on one.
Fly-half Rickelton drove and edged a wide ball late on the second day and hit a draw on the fourth over on the fourth day.
Similarly, Mulder scored 367 runs against Zimbabwe last year, but Bangladesh are the only other team against whom he has averaged more than 30. His 110-ball stay for 29 on the final day before being strangled down the leg leg was encouraging to say the least.
Wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, on the other hand, lasted just three balls before forcing Matt Renshaw’s part-time spinner to slip. His Test average of 30.14 fell to 28 against Australia and 15 against England and India.
Conrad said “a few of the guys need to step up.”
“The real disappointment was the batting at first dig on a very good wicket,” Conrad said.
“Yeah, world-class offense, but quite a few guys who start and don’t kick off.”
Gn sports
