Proteas are relying on one-percenters to ‘pull one over' Australia at WTC

Daily Maverick

19 hours ago

To beat Australia in the World Test Championship final, the Proteas will need to add up to more than the sum of their parts.
Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad is aware that South Africa head into the World Test Championship (WTC) final against Australia on Wednesday as the less fancied side. He is extracting every last bit of information, and drive, to even the odds.
Australia's Test side is filled with superstar names. Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon is one of the most balanced bowling attacks ever assembled.
Steve Smith, meanwhile, sits at the table with the greatest batters to have played red-ball cricket, while Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, to different extents, have all had legendary careers. Their names carry weight.
While South Africa's bowlers — particularly Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Keshav Maharaj — are proven match-winners, the Proteas' batters, on paper, don't hold a candle to Australia's.
For that reason, the Proteas have to fight harder for every run, which includes running hard between the wickets, chasing balls all the way to the boundary and being disciplined with ball in hand — traits the side have built on under Conrad.
'For now, those are the hallmarks and hopefully it stays that way until the numbers start becoming more of the numbers that we can compare to the Hashims [Amla] and the ABs [de Villiers] and the Jacques [Kallis], Conrad said on Monday's press conference at Lord's Cricket Ground.
'That's our strength at the minute. Guys really go out there and fight for every run, every little contribution, we understand how important it is.
'You also look at a guy like Tristan Stubbs. He doesn't bowl and you look at his celebrations when wickets get taken. That, for me, is the essence of what this team is about.
'Hopefully, in years to come, we'll see a few more names on those honours boards around the world and those batting averages start nudging towards 40 and above. Then you know you're on to something really good.'
The Proteas coach is relying on his side being more than the sum of their parts.
'We're quietly confident that we can pull one over them,' Conrad said. 'We're a confident bunch. We play well as a unit and if there are any vulnerabilities amongst them, I'm sure we'll be able to exploit that.'
Batting hopes
South Africa's batters are vastly inexperienced compared with Australia's. Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma is the only player in the lineup with more than 50 Test caps, while the Aussies possess four in Head, Labuschagne, Khawaja and Smith. The latter two have more than 100 caps.
'The inexperience of the batters is very apparent in terms of number of Tests played and ICC rankings,' Conrad said.
'It's pretty normal to chat about the bowlers when you have bowlers like Kagiso Rabada ranked two in the world and Marco [Jansen] and Keshav [Maharaj].
'But on the batting front, there's a quiet confidence amongst the batting group. They come off a lot of confidence, having gotten hundreds; different players at different stages.
'Whilst they might not have the superstar names amongst them, as a collective we're pretty confident.'
Bavuma is ranked sixth in the world and is the only South African in the top 10. Australia have three in the top 10 – Smith (five), Head (eight) and Khawaja (nine).
Aussie superstar Smith, when asked what South Africa's biggest threat was, pointed to the attack led by the world's second-ranked Test bowler Rabada, while three, four and five are occupied by Cummins, Hazlewood and Lyon.
'They have a really good side, particularly their bowling attack led by Rabada whose record speaks for itself,' Smith said.
'Marco Jansen is a quality performer, [Lungi] Ngidi has done it for a while and there's some other options there who could do a job and a really good spinner in [Keshav] Maharaj.
'[Our] batters are going to have their work cut out for them.'
Tapping into knowledge
Conrad has also recruited former England seamer Stuart Broad to help share knowledge of English conditions and advice on how to get the better of the Aussie batters. While Conrad refused to call Broad a bowling consultant, he did attend Monday's training session in full Protea attire and had a conversation with all the bowlers, as well as spending a long time speaking to Bavuma on the square at Lord's.
On Sunday's practice, former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith was in attendance, speaking to Conrad as they both watched the players train, before Smith spoke to a few of the batters.
'Biff reached out and asked if it's okay to pop around,' Conrad explained.
'We're open to those sorts of things. He's a legend in South African cricket. He's the most successful Test captain.
'They know that during the final bits of preparation, he's not going to come in and impose himself on anything. If anybody needs to have a chat or casual conversation, he's there for that chat to be had.
'Ex-players, guys like Graeme are always welcome… It doesn't have to be a formal invitation or a batting consultant or bowling consultant… with regards to Broadie, it's just using whatever we can, and if it adds value, great.' DM