Conrad: 'I don't think you ever want to walk around saying you are the best'

If there was a time for South Africa to show off, it's now. But the same coach who once advised them to do that is cautioning against it.

Shukri Conrad, who has overseen South Africa's rise to the top of the ICC Test rankings and has only lost one of the ten Test series he has been in charge of (against New Zealand in 2024) is staying humble as South Africa seek a second successive World Test Championship final spot.

"I don't think you ever want to walk around saying you're the best but that comes with a sense of knowing," Conrad said at Newlands, after South Africa beat Australia 2-1. "It's certainly not for me or anyone else to puff out the chest and say we've done this, that and the other. It was always about how we're going to get to the top and remain at the top for an extended period of time.

"I'm not into proving people wrong. I only look after that change room and instil the belief that they can do what they have done. There's a reason why the air is rarefied up at the top of the mountain and once you reach there, you want to stay there as long as you can because everybody's clamouring to get up there. We need to be consistent and we need to be consistently better."

Conrad hailed what he called an "incredible turnaround" after South Africa lost by 214 runs in Durban, recovered from 40 for 4 to beat Australia by an innings and 31 runs in Gqeberha and then squandered a good start with the bat and conceded a 100-run lead in Cape Town before setting Australia a target of 388 but also saw some red flags.

"We can be awesome one minute and absolutely horrendous the next," he said. "In the end, we're a lot more awesome than we are horrendous and that's the pleasing part for me."

South Africa's ability to do more incredibly good things than incredulously bad ones comes from the sense of confidence that has been built under Conrad. At the end of day four in Cape Town, Ryan Rickelton, one of the two centurions who dragged South Africa back into the contest, revealed how Conrad always saw the silver lining. Rickelton, who was on 8 at the end of day three, and looking shaky, said Conrad simply told him that it was eight fewer runs that they'd have to score the following day. Conrad didn't say much more and Rickelton went on to get 101. For a man who is never short of words in the media, Conrad said he actually says "very little" in team meetings and allows things to unfold as they will.

"People feed off some calmness. There are times when we get a little bit emotional but it's just the sense of knowing as well. You almost get a sense that someone will step up, something will happen and you don't need to state the obvious. A lot of it is the demeanour, the language. And it's not often what you say, but how you say things as well. There's a genuine belief that these guys can go on and do special things and it's not blind belief. It is based on what you see and the characters that I know that sit in that change room. Once they get that belief, then they go out and do certain things. Wiaan [Mulder], especially. We waited long for him to play a knock like he did but we always knew he's got it in him."

Mulder was the other centurion and had a coming-of-age series, in which he also took ten wickets. Under Conrad, Mulder has been a near-permanent presence in the side and has matured into a genuine lower-order allrounder, whose development has shown the value of consistency in selection but Conrad also hasn't been afraid to pull the plug on players. After the Durban defeat, he dropped both Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne but has not closed the door on either of them or anyone else.

"Guys know they get a good run and no one, when left out, feels that he was hard done by," he said. "Loyalty [in picking the same players who won the WTC final last year] was a word that was bandied about after the selection of the first squad but at some stage you've got to continually look at how you can evolve the team. Whatever decisions we take will always be for the betterment of the side. We are still short in certain areas. And if we feel that we've got guys that will provide that improvement, we'll look at that as well."

Marques Ackerman and Matthew Breetzke were the two players brought in and it seems like they will be given more opportunities, as Conrad still searches for his best combination. "We're getting the best XI on the bus. We've just got to find the right seats for them," he said. "The important bit is that very often you need to be quite malleable as a player also. You take Marques, for example, who's come in and taken [to Test cricket] like a duck to water. He's still going to mess things up because of the way he plays but he is a character that I don't want to stymie in any way."

And though the puzzle pieces are starting to fit, Conrad won't go as far as calling this the best version of the Test side he has managed. "I still think there are one or two things that will make us the best version," he said. "But my gosh, I wouldn't have thunk this a couple of days ago that we'd stand here. In the same breath, I'm also not surprised because that lot have it in them to do amazing things."

South Africa have now beaten Australia in successive home Test series, which was last done pre-readmission, and it would seem they have started their summer with their biggest hit. Though they celebrated long into Saturday night, they have a short turnaround to the next series, against Bangladesh and Conrad already has one eye on it.

"Every Test series becomes the biggest Test series and the next Test series is the biggest Test series of the summer," he said. "Bangladesh are going to come here with quicks that can be very effective on the surfaces on the Highveld. Let's not forget that they not so long ago beat Australia. It's critical for us that we take the good from here, look at where we can get better and make sure we hit the ground running against Bangladesh in a few weeks' time."

South Africa will announce their squad for the series on Monday.