From Lansdowne to Lord’s — Conrad’s journey to the summit of Test cricket

Like a loose-head prop crashing through a ruck or a gritty number seven digging in on a crumbling fifth-day wicket, Shukri Conrad has knuckled down and batted his way from playing street cricket in Lansdowne to the altar of Test cricket’s most sacred stage — Lord’s.

We're seated in a buzzing cafe, a cover drive away from the iconic Newlands Cricket Ground, the sun filtering through the windows like a soft day-one session in early summer.

The cappuccino froth is barely settled before fond memories come in waves — taped tennis balls whacked into opposite neighbours Boeta Majied Galant’s yard, scoreboard duty at Newlands for the reward of a 250ml Coke in a dumpy glass bottle and a slice of fruitcake.

Conrad, the current Proteas head coach, is preparing to lead his national men's cricket team to the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final at Lord’s in London this June.

But for a moment, we’re just neighbours again: No  65 and No  67. Two boys from Devon Road, Lansdowne, on the Cape Flats dreaming of cricket when it was neither fashionable nor funded.

“When you talk about those drain covers  we used as wickets, I get goosebumps,” he said, smiling as if he had just bowled a googly past the backyard stumps.

“That’s where it was all carved out — our very own academy of hard knocks.”

“Those weren’t just games. That was our coaching clinic, our training ground. We didn’t have YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook. We had imagination.”

And imagination served him well.

That imagination has now turned into reality, stitched together with grit and guile.

Nearly five decades later, Conrad is not only the Proteas Test coach who steered SA to their first WTC Test final — against Australia, no less — but now wears the heavy armband of leadership across all formats.

Cricket was never just a sport in the Conrad household — it was in the blood.

His father, Dickie Conrad, his grandfather Karriem “Kokkie” Conrad and his uncles from his mother’s side, the Dollie family, passed it down through generations.

But it wasn’t just about talent; it was about learning to fight against the odds, against exclusion, and self-doubt.

During the Test series against Pakistan earlier this year, Conrad received a quiet knock on his hotel room door — the kind you’d expect from a nightwatchman being sent in at stumps.

But it wasn’t a selector, analyst, or player. It was Rassie Erasmus — the Springbok coach, rugby maverick, and double World Cup-winning mastermind.

What began as a casual visit turned into a 2½-hour masterclass of shared philosophy. The conversation, as Conrad describes it, was “like unlocking a door to a shared coaching soul”.

“There was no ego. Just two South African coaches around a fire talking about getting the best out of our players,” Conrad said.

“Rassie said something that stuck with me: ‘Create your reality.’ And I realised, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing.”

Like two captains from different codes leading their nations out of the darkness, Erasmus and Conrad have drawn uncanny parallels.

Both trusted black captains before it was mainstream — Siya Kolisi and Temba Bavuma — and both came into roles bristling with criticism and heavy with historical baggage.

But instead of playing defence, they played with conviction. Forward. Unapologetically.

“We didn’t talk tactics,” Shukri laughed.

“We talked about belief. We talked about kids from Lansdowne or Zwide having something worth dreaming about.”

When Conrad handed the red-ball captaincy to Bavuma, it was no token handover. It was instinct. Like a captain sensing reverse swing after tea on day four.

“I didn’t want a black captain. I wanted this captain,” Conrad told SportsBoom.

“Temba is calm, considered, and unifying. He was what the team needed. His race was a fact, not the reason.”

It mirrored Rassie’s call in 2018 with Kolisi — courageous, conscious, culture-shifting. Both decisions went beyond team sheets. They were about identity.

“You can play the most beautiful cover drive, but if you’ve got no fight in you, I don’t need you in my XI. Give me a warrior,” Conrad said.

Conrad’s journey wasn’t paved with glitter. He was, in his own words, “a bit of a rebel”. A flash of flair, a chip on the shoulder — more maverick than manual.

Would he have picked himself as a player?

“No chance,” he chuckled. “I had too much ego. But the fire? That I’d keep.”

His style is rugby-forward in a cricket world — confrontational honesty, brutal trust, zero fluff.

In 2023, he took a Proteas Test team lacking shape and clarity and drilled them like a Bok forward pack: belief first, discipline second, results third.

And the results came.

By 2025, Conrad was crowned Wisden Cricket Coach of the Year after steering SA to their first-ever WTC final. It was as if Ellis Park met Lord’s — fire meeting finesse.

“Somebody had to get it,” he shrugged. “Might as well be me.”

But he was quick to credit his back room staff — Ashwell Prince (batting coach), Piet Botha (bowling coach), Sizwe Hadebe (physio), Khomotso Volvo Masubelele (team manager), and Masubelele.

“This award? It belongs to all of us,” he said.

“And the players — they keep me humble. After every win, they sing: ‘Shukri Conrad, we make you look good!’ And they do.”

Lord's awaits. The final against Australia. The old enemy. A team that has long played the role of Goliath in SA’s Test story. But Conrad isn’t flinching.

“I don’t care if they’ve got more caps. I care that KG [Rabada], Marco [Jansen], and Temba believe they can win. That’s the only stat I need.”

For him, the WTC final is no tourist visit. “Just being there is a blessing,” he said.

“But I’m not going to admire the paintings. I’m going to win.”

After Rob Walter’s resignation in April, CSA handed Conrad the reins across all formats — a move not unlike giving Erasmus the director of rugby role. It’s a consolidation with a purpose. Control with clarity.

“You like to say, ‘total control’, but it’s more about total visibility. Seeing where each player is — mentally, physically — and aligning them across formats,” Conrad said.

He’s already making moves — phoning players abroad, laying foundations. The 2027 Test Championship, the 2026 T20 World Cup, it’s all in play.

Like Erasmus, he’s not just planning for the next match, but for a generation.

And yet, no matter how high he climbs, the Cape Flats are never far behind.

“When I look back, I always see the faces. You, me, our neighbour Brian Wentzel, Faiek Davids, my mate Randall Christoffels. The families. The aunties on the stoep. That’s the soul of my story. That’s where my fire comes from.”

He wants young children in Grassy Park, Mitchells Plain, and Wynberg to dream a little bigger now.

“Why should my son only know Mitchell Starc? He should know Kagiso Rabada. Dewald Brevis. Ryan Rickelton. These are our warriors.”

And come June 11, those warriors, led by a coach from Lansdowne, will walk onto the hallowed turf of Lord’s, not to admire the cathedral, but to make history.

Because of this, like the Rugby World Cup in 2019 in Tokyo and 2023 in Paris, it isn’t just about winning a game. It’s about reshaping a nation’s belief.

“Devon Road will always be home,” Conrad said.

“But I want every kid from there to know — if I can make it to Lord’s, so can you.”

And whether the Proteas lift that mace, Shukri Conrad has already scored the most important century of all: belief. — SportsBoom