Conrad Stays True to Fair Play as Proteas Gear Up for Crucial WTC Showdown with Sri Lanka

With the World Test Championship heating up ahead of the Border-Gavaskar series, South Africa versus Sri Lanka, and New Zealand versus England, who knows what the host teams will do to have some form of advantage over the visiting teams? Will they be desperate enough to give pitch curators direct orders?

The state of Test cricket after WTC 

TEST cricket is alive once again. The World Test Championship campaign has been the sole saviour of the game's most cherished but almost forgotten format.

All around the world, we are now bracing for and anticipating mouth-watering Test match cricket as teams push for the top two spots in order to make the final in London next year.

Australia and India, the current top two teams, are going toe-to-toe in a five-match Border-Gavaskar series, England and New Zealand are bracing for a three-match series, South Africa and Sri Lanka are playing two matches, while Bangladesh and West Indies have two Test coming up as well.

The World Test Championship has given the longest format of the game meaning once again and teams around the world are vying for what is the greatest honour in the sport, being the best Test team in the world.

In Australia, the first Test gets underway tomorrow in Perth and India needs to win at least four of the five matches in Australia this summer to secure a spot in the final. On the other hand, Australia needs to win two as they have two more Tests next year in Sri Lanka.

With the stakes so high in the Border-Gavaskar series, the series is promising to heat up. When there is heat, who knows what the two teams will do on and off the field to help them get some form of advantage?

With Australia hosting the series, and given that they play an Asian team that is more accustomed to spin-friendly wickets, the hosts might order the pitch curators to prepare green tracks throughout the series to unsettle India and have an advantage.

Australia has done this before and so has any other host country. Though it is often talked about badly by the away team and its fans, it has become a norm in the 100-plus years of Test cricket.

Down in South Africa, Sri Lanka is currently placed third on the WTC standings and thus needs at least one victory before taking on Australia at home next year.

On the other hand, South Africa needs to win at least three of the four matches that they have this summer starting with next week's series against Sri Lanka.

Shukri Conrad's stance

Despite the heat involved and the high-stakes nature of Test cricket this summer, South Africa Test coach, Shukri Conrad, remains unshaken in his stance on deliberately manufacturing surfaces that favour his team's strengths.

The 57-year-old only wants the curators to prepare good Test wickets and is confident in his team's ability to adapt and dominate Sri Lanka on any type of surface.

"Like I said, we don't want to be going out and ordering specific wickets. We just want good cricketing wickets," Conrad told SportsBoom.com. 

"Like I said before, if we get good wickets, our batters can perform and we believe that we've got a bowling attack that can perform on any type of surface."

Taking Sri Lanka to Durban and Gqeberha again

The two Tests are set to be staged in coastal cities Durban and Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth, PE) where spinners have had a lot of success in Tests in recent times.

The last time Sri Lanka played in these cities, they went on to become the first ever Asian or subcontinent team to win a Test series in Africa when they beat the then Faf du Plessis-led Proteas team 2-0.

However, Conrad is not fussed at all by the prospect of returning to Kingsmead Stadium and St George's Park Cricket Stadium.

The two grounds are probably the least intimidating stadiums in the country, at least less intimidating as compared to SuperSport Park and Wanderers Stadium in the highveld.

Even domestically, the Durban-based Dolphins team is dominant at home and are often driven to victories by their spinners Prenelan Subrayen, Keshav Maharaj and Bryce Parsons.

However, Conrad believes the Dolphins deliberately ask for turners, a concept that he doesn't want to associate with his style of coaching or his team.

Moreover, the 57-year-old understands that the wicket at Kingsmead Stadium will be a new wicket, one which will favour quicks in the first three days, with the spinners coming into the game on Day four and five, a typical Test cricket wicket.

Without directing the curator at Kingsmead, Conrad has been told by consultant Evan Flint that the wicket in Durban will be fast but would lack pace.

"(There are) no concerns on our side (about returning to Durban and Gqeberha). I don't know why subcontinent teams would prefer Durban and PE. I was in conversation with Evan Flint who's the consultant there and it will be one of the new wickets," said Conrad.

"Evan guarantees there will be some good pace but there might not be the bounce that there normally is. Domestically, they prepare it for spin because of the strength of their bowlers in Subs (Prenelan Subrayen), Kesh (Keshav Maharaj) and Bryce Parsons.

"I think the Dolphins go out deliberately preparing spinning wickets. It will spin at some stage during the Test match late on Day four or Day four. That's what you want and that's why we are playing arguably one of the best spinners in the world in Keshav in our side.

"Similarly in PE, if you look at the records domestically, Beyers Swanepoel takes a host of wickets down in PE and it can be very favourable for seamers as well. So, I'm not overly fussed.

"You can't play all your cricket at Centurion and the Wanderers. We've got a fanbase in Durban and PE. We've seen the wonderful support that people give in Gqeberha and we are looking forward to playing Test matches there and I have absolutely no qualms about going to Durban and Gqeberha."