Exclusive: "Shukri Conrad is not too dissimilar to Rassie Erasmus," says Robin Peterson

South Africa Test coach, Shukri Conrad, has taken a team that had been in transition for four years and led it to the summit of the World Test Championship standings.

Conrad's three decades of coaching

Former Proteas all-rounder and now domestic coach, Robin Peterson, believes that the key to Conrad's success is deeply rooted in his vast experience coaching in South Africa.

Conrad has been coaching since the 1999/2000 season where he coached a non-first-class Gauteng B side before he moved to coach the Gauteng senior team in 2002.

In 2005, the 57-year-old went on to coach Western Province (Cape Cobras) and did so for five years where he won multiple domestic trophies and built more experience as a professional coach.

He then moved to coach Uganda in 2010 before returning to the South African pipeline in 2011/12.

"He's done the hard yards. He's learned how to build teams, how to take big players and turn them into winning formidable forces. He's someone that was not given a free pass and he's done it the hard way," Peterson told SportsBoom in an exclusive interview.

"He's been forever in the game. So, for sure all the experience he's developed over the three decades, he's employing all that experience in building this Test side."

"With coaching, you learn as you go along. He's gone through all the ranks, coached B sides, franchise teams and under-19s which means he understands the whole landscape of South Africa."

"That can only be a great thing for South African cricket. He's someone who is not scared to make decisions in the best interests of South African cricket."

Playing under Conrad

Peterson played under Conrad from 2009 where his career flourished. He described Conrad as an innovator and pointed out that the 57-year-old comes from a great cricketing family with his father, Sedick Conrad, having played 10 first-class matches between 1971 and 1991.

"I've played under Shuks at Western Province. He's an innovator and a creative coach. He gets his players to get on with it," Peterson told SportsBoom.

"People forget that Shukri Conrad was a SA Schools player. He comes from a great pedigree, I mean, his dad was an outstanding batsman.

"So, cricket's in his blood and from there he's developed his own views on the game and he's always evolving as a coach. I'm not surprised with the results he's getting."

Conrad is not too dissimilar to Rassie Erasmus

Moreover, Peterson told SportsBoom that Conrad's coaching style is not dissimilar to that of the two-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus.

Both coaches inherited teams that had been on a downward spiral, and in Conrad's case, since taking over the Test team, he has lost only three matches, a feat that no one could have foreseen two years ago.

Conrad has turned the ship around and took a team that was struggling to score centuries over multiple years and turned them into run machines with ten centuries this year alone.

Most importantly, the 57-year-old has created a space where his players play with a smile on their faces.

"It's never easy when a new coach is coming in but Shuks has developed so much skill over the years. He's gotten everybody going in the same direction. You can't speak highly enough of what he's cricket over there and long may it continue," said Peterson.

"We're getting a lot of hundreds now. He's gotten the batting unit functioning with the help of Ashwell Prince and his experience."

"What you see is players playing with smiles on their faces. When someone needs to step up they do as we have seen with Dane Paterson and Ryan Rickelton."

"He's created a group of players, not too dissimilar to Rassie Erasmus, that when someone comes in they can perform straight away because they feel confident in the environment, they feel the trust and backing there. It's been amazing to see."

South Africa is set to don the whites again on Boxing Day in Centurion where they will take on Pakistan in the first of two Test matches. They need only one victory to book a spot in the World Test Championship final at Lord's in London next year.