DURBAN (Reuters) – South Africa are building on the confidence built in recent months of success but still need to improve aspects of their game in the upcoming matches, coach Shukri Conrad said after Saturday’s opening Test win over Sri Lanka .
The 233-run victory at Kingsmead came not only from an 11-wicket haul for lanky speedster Marco Jansen, but also centuries for captain Temba Bavuma and the hard-hitting Tristan Stubbs, who boosted belief in the ranks.
“There is a lot to be said about trust and nurturing each other. Obviously, there is a lot of talk among participants about know-how and how to handle the processes,” Conrad said.
“There is a lot of sharing of knowledge, not necessarily on our part as coaches, but between peers. I think there’s a lot to be said for knowing that when the conditions are really good, we have the ability to get hundreds.”
South Africa have now won four Tests in a row and remain on track for a place in the World Test Championship final.
They must win at least two of the three remaining Tests in the 2024-25 cycle against Sri Lanka next week in Gqeberha and Pakistan soon after in Pretoria and Cape Town.
“We played some very good cricket on a difficult wicket to bat in the first over,” Conrad said of the triumph in Durban.
“But we still need to improve when things are really difficult. And that doesn’t necessarily mean getting a lot of runs, but I think we can minimize the loss of clusters of wickets and apply what we set out to do in terms of playing conditions.
“We worked really hard today, which was great. And since the last few wins have been, and I say this with the greatest respect, probably relatively easy, I think we needed some good, hard work.”
South Africa chased Sri Lanka’s last five wickets at the start of the fourth day’s play to secure victory, but encountered stiff resistance and took until after lunch to secure success.
“It was good to see how we persisted. But we know that Sri Lanka are a top team and they will come back strongly in the second Test,” the coach added.
The second test starts on Thursday at St George’s Park.
