South African coach Shukri Conrad dismissed criticism regarding scheduling imbalances in the World Test Championship after his team secured a spot in the final.
South Africa achieved a thrilling two-wicket victory over Pakistan in Centurion on Sunday, marking their sixth consecutive Test win.
This victory guarantees South Africa a place in the final next June, irrespective of the outcome of their second Test against Pakistan in Cape Town.
“People abroad will be shouting that we had an easy draw. Well, I’m not going to apologise for that. We’re just thrilled that we can be at Lord’s next year,” Conrad said after the triumph over Pakistan.
Australia’s win against India in Melbourne positioned them favourably to join South Africa at Lord’s. However, they still need to complete their series against India and play two matches against Sri Lanka.
South Africa’s qualification has highlighted the uneven distribution of fixtures in the World Test Championship. Former England captain Michael Vaughan has called for revisions to the format.
“At the moment every team plays a wildly different number of games and that just does not create a balanced outcome or totally fair league table,” Vaughan wrote in a column for the British daily The Telegraph.
South Africa and Bangladesh played the fewest matches, with only 12 each.
In contrast, England played 22 Tests, while Australia and India each participated in 19 fixtures.
South Africa’s schedule consisted of six two-match series. They drew a series against India but did not face Australia or England.
Meanwhile, Australia, India, and England all engaged in five-match series against one another, resulting in shared points that influenced their average points standings.
South Africa forfeited a series against New Zealand due to their governing body’s prioritisation of a T20 tournament.
Conrad was unable to select players contracted to T20 franchises, effectively excluding most of his first-choice players.
Despite this setback, South Africa won series against the West Indies and Bangladesh, defeated Sri Lanka at home, and narrowly overcame Pakistan.
Conrad acknowledged his team’s subpar performance in Centurion, which required a 51-run ninth-wicket partnership between Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada to secure the victory.
“The WTC weighs on you; you really want to get to the final, but we need to be a lot more resilient and clinical. We saw what pressure did to some of our players, but they will grow enormously from the experience.
“We are so much better than we showed in this match, but we want this team to never know when they are beaten, and we want the opposition to know that too,” said Conrad.