‘The impressive thing for me was how we managed to keep the standards as high as we set them,’ said the Proteas coach.
Head coach Shukri Conrad was full of praise for the SA team’s all-round performance after they wrapped up a 2-0 Test series victory over Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
Having won the first Test by 328 runs last week, Conrad was delighted with the under-strength Proteas squad, who won the second game by an innings and 236 runs on Tuesday despite missing some senior players who were being rested from the two-match series.
“I think the impressive thing for me was how we managed to keep the standards as high as we set them, both in the first Test and the second Test,” Conrad said.
Among the stars in the Proteas squad were debutant Lhuan-dre Pretorius, all-rounder Corbin Bosch (playing his second Test) and captain Wiaan Mulder, who all made centuries in the first match. Bosch also took five wickets with the ball in Zimbabwe’s second innings.
In the second Test, Mulder was incredible in his first game as Proteas captain, hitting a national record 367 runs to lay the foundation of the SA side’s 10th successive Test victory.
‘We were really good’
“Batting first, we found ourselves in a bit of trouble against the new ball, and the youngsters Lhuan-dre (19-year-old Pretorus) and Brevy (22-year-old Dewald Brevis who hit a half-century) managed that in the first Test. And it was the same in the second match. We found ourselves in trouble, and then Wiaan (Mulder) played a monumental knock,” Conrad said.
“On the bowling front, the disciplines we were able to maintain, constantly keeping the Zimbabwean batters under pressure, that for me was really impressive.
“And obviously the catching yet again is something we attach a high value to, and in the field we were really good as well.”
