South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad vows to prioritize national team over franchise leagues

Shukri Conrad was recently appointed as South Africa’s white-ball head coach.

Shukri Conrad took over as the head coach of South Africa Cricket Team earlier this week. Conrad was already the head coach of test side. However, Cricket South Africa (CSA) has given him the additional duties of the ODI and T20I teams too. After taking over the reins of the white-ball formats as head coach, Conrad has vowed to prioritize the national team over franchise T20 leagues.

Shukri Conrad is the successor of former white-ball coach Rob Walter, who stepped down from the post due to personal reasons. The latter left after completing a two-year contract. Conrad will assume the role of head coach in ODIs and T20s till the end of ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 in South Africa.

Shukri Conrad wants players to prioritize national team over franchise T20 leagues

After taking over as the head coach of South Africa’s ODIs and T20Is, Shukri Conrad has clarified that he wants all players to prioritize national team over franchise T20 leagues. He also added that he has conveyed this to all-format players and they are supportive of his vision.

“It’s clear in black and white, this is when South Africa plays and I want all my players available to play. If you choose not to play for South Africa, well, then we’ll go on that road,” he said.

“The all-format players have been spoken to. They are fully supportive of what I’m wanting to do. We’ll plan their year for them in advance. Their rest periods are going to be suggested and it will be exactly that, it will be a rest period. It won’t be one where you can then go and play another league,” the 58-year-old further added.

Notably, many Proteas players made themselves unavailable for the national team in the past to participate in franchise T20 leagues. This has also led CSA to overlook some prominent players from central contracts in the past.

Shukri Conrad also heaped praises on former white-ball coach Walter, who helped South Africa to come up with a fabulous show in recent ICC tournaments. South Africa reached the semi-finals in ICC Champions Trophy 2025 earlier this year and ICC T20 World Cup 2024 last year.

“Rob laid a really good foundation. He did some wonderful things, you only need to look at the performances at ICC events. I’ll try and build on what [he] has done,” Conrad further added.

Meanwhile, Shukri Conrad’s first assignment as white-ball coach will be South Africa’s forthcoming T20I and ODI series against Australia in August. South Africa will travel to Australia for three T20Is and three ODIs during the series. Ahead of this tour, Conrad will also coach the test team in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final and a two-match series against Zimbabwe in June.

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