Ethics and values of Test cricket went out the window at Newlands, says Shukri Conrad

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad chose his words carefully when asked if he was satisfied with a 1-1 Test series result against India.

“No, not after going up 1-0 in the first Test,” he said on Thursday afternoon after India roared back to win the second Test at Newlands by seven wickets to square the series. South Africa won the first Test a few days earlier by more than an innings.

“But India were red hot and desperate to come back and then you have to factor in the conditions. I’m not going to lay the blame with the make-up of our team, or our tactics … though this has come as a shock. The reality is we have to start thinking like champions.”

The Newlands pitch is the big talking point following the match, which saw just 642 balls bowled, the shortest Test match of all-time. It was over in four and a half sessions on day two, with South Africa collapsing to 55 all out in the first session on day one the key to India going on to win the match.

‘We have to own it’

“Credit must go to India, but scoring the lowest total (55, in the post-isolation era) is never going to win you a Test match and we have to own it. It wasn’t great, both the cricket and the wicket.”

Conrad said it was a “sad state” that in this Test it came down to luck rather than skill to determine who ultimately came out on top.

“I thought I knew Newlands well, but that was completely out of character,” said Conrad, who has spent much of his life in Cape Town and been involved in all things cricket at Newlands for many years.

“When you go into a Test you gather information, you take in your experience, you speak to people, and you stack up accordingly … but then everything goes out the window when you encounter a surface like that.

“I don’t know what to say … is it a rubbish wicket or not? But you only need to look at the scores, in one and a half days … it’s a sad state when you need more luck than skill to survive in a Test match, when all the ethics and values of Test cricket go out the window.”

What irked Conrad most about the pitch is the fact he wasn’t able to prepare his players properly for it.

“When you go to places like the sub-continent you know it will spin, and then we, as coaches, know what to expect and you can prepare accordingly,” said Conrad. “This was nowhere near any of that.”