South Africa’s 2027 World Cup Campaign Could Spark a New Era, Says Conrad

Shukri Conrad is a South African cricket coach and former first-class cricketer. He has been South Africa’s head coach since 2023 and guided the South Africa men’s national team to the 2023-2025 World Test Championship title. He believes the 2027 World Cup could be the start of a new phase for South African cricket.

South Africa missed the first 4 editions of the tournament because of apartheid. Since then, they have tried 9 times to win the trophy but have fallen short on every occasion. At times, they entered as favourites, while on other occasions they were seen as strong contenders. Yet they have never reached the final. They have made two quarterfinals and five semifinals, but famously won just 1 of those seven knockout games.

South Africans will hope their team has made the changes needed by the time they begin their 10th campaign. Conrad, however, offered a mixed view: “I don’t know if South African cricket has changed much, we still show the same traits as the teams before us.

“But I think, especially among the younger players, there’s much more freedom in how they play. Maybe they are not as restricted as some of the older players and those from previous generations were.
“Maybe T20 cricket has pushed us in that direction. There’s a more open approach to how we want to play. But, basically, nothing’s changed.”

WTC Triumph Offers Belief

Some may find that disappointing. It is clear that what South Africa have done before has not been enough. So why does Conrad believe following a similar path can bring a different result?
Because he knows it can work.

Under Conrad, Temba Bavuma’s side played a style that was easily recognised as South African and won the WTC last year. A pace-heavy attack and tough batting helped them beat Pakistan by two wickets in Centurion in December 2024 and secure their place in the final. They took Pakistan’s last six wickets for 65 runs, but then slipped to 19/3 while chasing 148. In the final at Lord’s in June, they came back from a 74-run first-innings deficit to beat Australia by five wickets.

Fast bowling, tough batting and the ability to recover from difficult positions have long been part of South Africa’s identity. The key difference was that this time, it worked when it counted. It might have happened more often by now if the WTC had existed for longer than its start in August 2019.

Winning the title, Conrad said, “gives you a belief” that South Africa can win championships and that they are not somehow destined to miss out on major global trophies.

“Probably the game at Centurion was the biggest one for me,” Conrad said.
“That’s where we were really tested. The ups and downs of that final day and the way we got through it showed us that, when we face big moments, we are capable of responding.”

T20 World Cup Defeat a Reminder

But Conrad understood that winning the WTC would not automatically lead to World Cup success. South Africans who believed that were quickly shown otherwise at the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and India in February and March this year.

South Africa reached the semifinals as one of only two unbeaten teams, with India the other, from the 20 sides that started the tournament. But they produced a poor performance against New Zealand and went on to lose by nine wickets. Conrad was also the head coach at the time.

“We’re certainly not going into the World Cup feeling complacent. Yes, there’s going to be a sense of achievement (earned by winning the WTC), but we want that to be the springboard for what can be done in future.”

Ultimately, South Africa’s success in 2027 will depend on whether they can take the resilience that won them the World Test Championship and finally make it work when everything is on the line in the limited-overs game.

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