Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad may currently be feasting on a diet of English Premier League football at Anfield and Old Trafford, but he will be keeping a close eye on proceedings at the SA20 Season 2 auction back home on Wednesday.
Conrad is enjoying a break before the serious business of the summer gets under way with a much-anticipated India incoming tour.
However, Conrad is also tasked with taking a Proteas team to New Zealand for a two-match Test series against the Black Caps in January next year. That tour, though, coincides with SA20 League Season 2 and Cricket South Africa (CSA) have already stated the domestic T20 tournament will take preference in terms of player availability.
Test captain Temba Bavuma has already been ruled out of the tour to the Land of the Long White Cloud after being pre-signed by defending SA20 champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.
Fellow Proteas Test batters Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen along with the entire first-choice attack consisting of Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Anrich Nortje, Simon Harmer and Lungi Ngidi are also not available.
And to compound Conrad’s problems is that second tier players such as Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Tristan Stubbs, Senuran Muthusamy, Jordan Hermann and Rassie van der Dussen have also already been signed up by various SA20 teams.
And that is unfortunately not even the end of Conrad’s dilemmas, which is why he will certainly be tuned into the auction that gets under way at 4pm at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
Conrad took a youthful South Africa “A” squad to Sri Lanka during the winter but now faces an anxious wait to see which players will be purchased at the auction.
Proteas Test batters Tony de Zorzi, Keegan Petersen, Zubayr Hamza, Kyle Verreynne are all listed in the auction along with fellow SA “A” team members Beyers Swanepoel, Lutho Sipamla and Sinethemba Qeshile, which could leave Conrad with precious few options when he finally sits down to select a touring squad to New Zealand.
CSA chief executive Pholetsi Moseki had approached his New Zealand counterparts for a possible fixture change to April but they were not open to any negotiations due to trans-Tasman neighbours Australia also touring next summer.
Conrad had previously said he would adopt a philosophical approach to selection as he had no control over the situation.
“You have to expect the unexpected but I will have discussions with the powers that be so that they can put that to the other powers that be,” he said.
“It won’t help anyone if I’m moping about. We know what is going to transpire, so there is not use in moaning. I have to prepare.”
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