Conrad emphasises national priority, but Rabada fallout dominates discussion

Push is about to come to shove for Shukri Conrad's philosophy that South Africa's first-choice players should always be available for the national cause - come hell, high water or even the IPL.

Conrad made his point on Friday, when CSA confirmed he would add the white-ball teams to the Test portfolio he has held since January 2023 and become South Africa's all-format coach. The demands made on the players by T20 franchise leagues have led to South Africa selecting weakened teams for bilateral series, a tendency Conrad plans to stamp out. But the first test of the new approach will be conducted in whites.

The IPL was scheduled to end on May 25, but the final has since, for reasons far beyond cricket, been moved to June 3. CSA expected the South Africa players in the IPL to be released on May 26, and they still do. Understandably so, considering the WTC final against Australia on June 11 and a practice match against Zimbabwe before that.

"One thing we've made clear, and we are finalising this with the IPL and the BCCI, is sticking to our original plan when it comes to the WTC preparations," Enoch Nkwe, CSA's director of national teams and high performance, told a press conference in Johannesburg on Tuesday (May 13). "May 26 is the latest for the Test guys to come back. The original plans don't change because the No. 1 priority is the WTC final. We've been engaging with them over the last day or two to make sure we're all on the same page."

The relevant players are Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs, who are in the squad for the WTC final announced on Tuesday as well as contracted to IPL franchises. Mulder is off the hook as he is with SRH, who have been eliminated from the knockout rounds and will play their last league fixture on May 25.

"Nothing has changed from our perspective," Conrad said about the May 26 deadline. "That is the ongoing conversation that is being had between people at a higher play grade than I am. As it stands we're not budging on that, I don't think. We want our players back on the 26th and hopefully that comes to fruition."

Conrad's squad of 15 is devoid of controversy, with the mild exception of the inclusion of Ngidi at the expense of Anrich Nortje, Gerald Coetzee and Nandre Burger - big, booming fast bowlers of the kind who have done much to make South Africa a force in the global game. Ngidi has skills others have not mastered, but he is not as quick as Nortje, Coetzee or Burger.

"I genuinely believe someone like Lungi can be a massive asset for us there," Conrad said. "He's looking in great shape. He's been training really well, and he brings experience to our line-up. Whether he bowls up the slope or down the [Lord's] slope, his height and the bounce that he's able to extract can be a factor."

Ngidi's most recent first-class match was a Test against West Indies in Trinidad in August last year, but he is over the groin injury that took him out of the home series against Pakistan in December and January. Conrad seemed less confident Nortje had recovered completely from the toe he broke facing David Miller in the nets, and that Coetzee was back from his own groin issue. Nortje and Coetzee suffered their injuries in December.

"We all enjoy sheer pace," Conrad said. "Unfortunately, with 'Annas' [Nortje], it didn't pan out the way we had hoped. I don't think he's in any position, really, to be playing a Test. Gerald is also making his way back."

For Bavuma, the likely conditions were the determining factor in Ngidi's selection: "If we were playing in Australia or South Africa, then the conversation would be about extra pace. But in England, control and skill become a lot more important.

"From the time Shukri came in, we wanted to bring back the pace factor; we wanted teams to fear us again. That's mainly when we play in South Africa. Outside of South Africa we always adapt our plans accordingly."

Much of the press conference and the one-on-one interviews that followed dealt with the fallout of Rabada testing positive for a banned recreational drug in January. He returned home from the IPL on April 3 and served a one-month ban before going back to India.

"We needed to take the cricketing element out of the situation, and also not to let it cloud him," Nkwe said. "We also needed to give him space and allow the process to take place. He has apologised and we understood that and forgave him.

"The most important thing became how KG the human was before it was about KG the cricketer. We needed to have regular engagement - meetings, touching base; how is he doing? What more do we need to do? He's responded very well. He's human, and feels he's let the country down."

Nkwe said CSA had learnt from the episode: "There's always going to be a lesson in something like this. It's the same with the match-fixing. We'll continue to look at it internally. What can we do better? How do we make sure that the wellbeing of players remains a priority? We understand that this is a missing lesson, not only for KG but for players in the country, continentally and globally. We're just happy that we managed to get [the ban] down to one month and we can move on."

Bavuma took a slightly firmer line: "If there is [a substance abuse] issue there, then he gets the support that he needs. If there's not an issue, if it was him being reckless, then he deals with it - the sledging, the media from the UK and Australia.

"International sport can be mentally cruel. I'm not here to make excuses for him or to pre-empt what his reasons are for what he did. But it can be a tough place to be.

"My friendship with KG comes first. My relationship with him as captain comes later, because in a year's time I may no longer be captain. A lot of people will point fingers at him; a lot of people who have their own skeletons in the closet. I'm not going to be one of those people."

Conrad threw a verbal arm across Rabada's shoulders: "Not for one minute was I on tenterhooks worrying about whether he would be available [for the WTC final]. It was a bigger thing. It was whether KG's alright and about closing ranks around him and ensuring that he's in a good space. Because we care for all our players. But he has served his sentence, and all I'm interested in now is KG producing performances that we know he's capable of."

What might Conrad say to Tim Paine, who told SEN Radio on May 5 that "it stinks" that Rabada's absence from the IPL was rigorously ascribed to personal reasons until reports appeared about his drug use, which prompted his apology?

"To Tim Paine and everybody else out there, I'd probably say something like, let he who is without sin cast the first stone," Conrad said.

In November 2021 it emerged that Paine had sent sexually explicit messages and a photograph of his penis to a colleague in November 2017. He resigned the Australia captaincy as a consequence.

Conrad's barb was well-placed and will doubtless land as intended in Australia. Expect to hear more, from both sides, before, during and even after the WTC final.