Proteas coach Shukri Conrad has praised batting coach Ashwell Prince’s contribution during their Test series victory over Bangladesh. Proteas coach Shukri Conrad has praised batting coach Ashwell Prince’s contribution during their Test series victory over Bangladesh. Picture: Zabed Hasnain Chowdhury / NurPhoto via AFP
There has been a train of thought that South Africa preparing “spicy wickets” for the touring opposition - especially those from the subcontinent - did more harm than good as far as the Proteas’ batsmen were concerned.
While the bowlers were feasting, the batters for a long time struggled to spend time at the crease and make significant scores. This was especially prevalent during that transitional period when the Proteas had to rebuild after life without Graeme Smith, Hashim, Amla, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers and Ashwell Prince.
Centuries were few and far between at home because there was always a ball with your name on it. But this also affected the batters when they played on really good wickets, as they didn’t have the confidence or form to get after it in good batting pitches.
The spicy pitches used to paper the cracks when it came to the Proteas’ home results. And it was exposed in 2019, when the Proteas lost a Test series 2-0 against Sri Lanka at home on pitches in Durban and Gqeberha that provided a good contest between bat and ball.
The teams will play at the same venues in a massive Test series for South Africa later this month. But this time coach Shukri Conrad is welcoming good wickets following their convincing two-Test series win against Bangladesh.
This comes after the Proteas piled on the runs on a flat track in the second Test against Bangladesh, before the bowlers made light work of the opposition’s batting line-up to wrap up the series win.
Conrad believes that if the batters can get in and make big scores, they have a quality bowling attack with players such as Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj who can take 20 wickets to win them a Test match.
“I've always said give us conditions that are batter friendly or not too spicy, than what we have become accustomed to, then the guys can get hundreds,” Conrad said.
“Bowlers are made to work and we've got bowlers who can toil away and create opportunities. For me it's all about having good enough wickets for batters.
“We're not going to ask for specific conditions back home ... we want good wickets because we feel that we can create enough opportunities on good wickets and our batters have shown that they can get hundreds.”
Conrad says Prince’s contribution as batting coach has been immense after he missed the previous series against the West Indies because of personal reasons.
Prince was the man for a crisis during his time in the Proteas’ middle-order, often showing that fight and mentality to save South Africa’s bacon on many occasions.
Now, it looks like he is busy installing that same spirit into the current crop of Proteas, with four different players scoring centuries against Bangladesh - three players scored their maiden Test ton in the second Test.
“Ashwell is our batting coach. He's obviously had a few things to deal with on the domestic front, that's why he couldn't make the West Indies, but he's our batting coach,” said Conrad when asked about Prince’s situation.
“His impact has been pretty plain to see. He brings a doggedness, he brings a mentality that he played with and understands batting, understands techniques of which we don't go too much into.
“Obviously if there are little technical things, but certainly the mentality that we want to drive. He sits at the forefront of that as well in the batting group, so he just fits in beautifully with what we want to do here.”
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