Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad believes his squad has every chance to make it to 2025’s World Test Championship final.
Conrad this week announced his squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh in Dhaka and Chattogram later in October.
Former Grey High star Matthew Breetzke, 25, has been dominating SA domestic cricket as a batter for some time now and has been included in the squad for the second time after his maiden call-up in July for the Test trip to the Caribbean.
Breetzke further proved to Conrad that he was ready for Test cricket when he compiled a mature 213-ball 129 during the SA A Four-Day match against Sri Lanka A recently.
In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.com, Conrad clarified that the Warriors’ Breetzke was cover for any of the main batters purely because of his ability to bat anywhere in the top six.
“I made it very clear to Matthew when we took him to the West Indies that he’s the next batter up, and nothing has changed,” Conrad said.
“It was great to see him coming in and perform the way he did in that A series.
“He knows he’s the next batter up. He’s got to wait his turn pretty much.
“When I say he is the next batter, I mean if anything were to happen to batters one to six, it would be Matt.
“He’s good cover because he can bat in the top order and he can bat in the middle order.”
The Proteas will get together at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria before they depart for Bangladesh on October 16 for the series that gets under way on October 21.
With SA sitting in sixth position in the World Test Championship standings, Conrad knows that the Bangladesh series is of utmost importance as the team still has the chance to qualify for 2025’s final at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
However, Conrad is also aware that Bangladesh are fresh off a historic series victory in Pakistan and have more recently had some serious game time in India.
“The ambitions are to get there [to the final].
“We are obviously developing as a team, but we can develop and win at the very same time.
“With the necessary experience, I think you’ll see this team get better all the time.
“What needs to happen, we have six Test matches, I still think we need to win five of them, but it will be really tough,” Conrad said.
“When we play well, we will have enough to have the results.
“That is the end goal and not the immediate goal.
“We know every time we walk out there, we want to win a Test match and we believe we can win a Test match.
“If we get to the end of the cycle and we’re in the top two then great. It’s certainly an ambition of ours.
“We do understand and we are fully aware that it will be a lot of good cricket, we’ll have to be really good in every aspect.
“We’re going to go to Bangladesh where it’s in foreign conditions where very few of these guys have played before, and play against a very tough unit there and try get results.”
Test squad: Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, and Kyle Verreynne.
Fixtures v Bangladesh:
First Test, October 21-25: Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka; Second Test, October 29-November 2, Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram. — SportsBoom
Breetzke is next batter lined up for Test side — Conrad
Proteas Test coach says former Grey High star is ‘good cover’
Image: DANIE VAN DER LITH/GALLO IMAGES
Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad believes his squad has every chance to make it to 2025’s World Test Championship final.
Conrad this week announced his squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh in Dhaka and Chattogram later in October.
Former Grey High star Matthew Breetzke, 25, has been dominating SA domestic cricket as a batter for some time now and has been included in the squad for the second time after his maiden call-up in July for the Test trip to the Caribbean.
Breetzke further proved to Conrad that he was ready for Test cricket when he compiled a mature 213-ball 129 during the SA A Four-Day match against Sri Lanka A recently.
In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.com, Conrad clarified that the Warriors’ Breetzke was cover for any of the main batters purely because of his ability to bat anywhere in the top six.
“I made it very clear to Matthew when we took him to the West Indies that he’s the next batter up, and nothing has changed,” Conrad said.
“It was great to see him coming in and perform the way he did in that A series.
“He knows he’s the next batter up. He’s got to wait his turn pretty much.
“When I say he is the next batter, I mean if anything were to happen to batters one to six, it would be Matt.
“He’s good cover because he can bat in the top order and he can bat in the middle order.”
The Proteas will get together at the Centre of Excellence in Pretoria before they depart for Bangladesh on October 16 for the series that gets under way on October 21.
With SA sitting in sixth position in the World Test Championship standings, Conrad knows that the Bangladesh series is of utmost importance as the team still has the chance to qualify for 2025’s final at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
However, Conrad is also aware that Bangladesh are fresh off a historic series victory in Pakistan and have more recently had some serious game time in India.
“The ambitions are to get there [to the final].
“We are obviously developing as a team, but we can develop and win at the very same time.
“With the necessary experience, I think you’ll see this team get better all the time.
“What needs to happen, we have six Test matches, I still think we need to win five of them, but it will be really tough,” Conrad said.
“When we play well, we will have enough to have the results.
“That is the end goal and not the immediate goal.
“We know every time we walk out there, we want to win a Test match and we believe we can win a Test match.
“If we get to the end of the cycle and we’re in the top two then great. It’s certainly an ambition of ours.
“We do understand and we are fully aware that it will be a lot of good cricket, we’ll have to be really good in every aspect.
“We’re going to go to Bangladesh where it’s in foreign conditions where very few of these guys have played before, and play against a very tough unit there and try get results.”
Test squad: Temba Bavuma (capt), David Bedingham, Matthew Breetzke, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Dane Paterson, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Ryan Rickelton, and Kyle Verreynne.
Fixtures v Bangladesh:
First Test, October 21-25: Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Dhaka; Second Test, October 29-November 2, Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chattogram. — SportsBoom
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