Time to drool over our players: Conrad

Centurion, December 28

South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad believes that debutants Nandre Burger and David Bedingham have shown that it’s time the country’s cricket pundits “drool over” one of their own rather than talking up players from other nations.

Left-arm seamer Burger got seven wickets, while Bedingham scored a fifty in South Africa’s facile innings and 32 runs victory in the opening Test against India here today.

“I think it was Harsha Bhogle who asked if South Africa is producing players at all. Now we have shown we do. This is not to undermine others but for far too long, as a group we are so humble to talk up other players that we don’t give credit to our own players,” Conrad said. “Nandre is massive and Bedingham too … it’s time we start drooling over our players. A bit like our debutants and bit like Dean (Elgar), they have been phenomenal.”

Praising Dean Elgar, Conrad termed him a “deserving” Man of the Match and said retirement must have spurred him on to play the way he did. “Maybe retirement decision was everything about the way he played,” he said.