South African Players Should Be Available For Every National Tour: Conrad

South Africa’s new all-format coach, Shukri Conrad, has made it clear that every national team player should be available on every tour. The newly appointed coach also revealed that he’s had ‘conversations’ with the team about it, and the Proteas will always have the best players out there in the middle. 

"We're going to put out the best Proteas side every time we play," Conrad said, reported ESPNCricinfo. 

"I've had conversations with our players, all-format players and guys that only play the one format that are contracted to us, that at every turn when the Proteas play, there's an expectation that they'll play for South Africa."

Over the last few years, the South African national team has been on the wrong side of franchise tournaments, because of which they have had to play second-string sides in the past. While stating that the Proteas will never be a ‘franchise team’, he reckoned that all the players would now be available for all the international series. 

"The Proteas will never be a franchise team, the Proteas will never be a league, nor will it be a convenience. This is part of building a culture and building an environment that players want to be part of. Every single player is committed to that and wanting to be a part of it so I can quite comfortably say that at every turn the best Proteas side will be put out on the field,” he said. 

"This comes with careful planning and buy-in from everyone and I think going down this road just cleans up everything," he said. "It makes it less messy, [there will be] less conversation and less talk that can be quite polarising in many respects. It's clear; black and white: when South Africa plays, I want all my players available to play. If you choose not to play for South Africa, well, then we go down that road. Our all-format players have been spoken to. They are fully supportive of what I'm wanting to do and then we plan the year for them in advance."

However, Conrad stated that it won’t take away franchise league experience for the players, insisting that individuals are free to go play franchise leagues whenever they are not with the national team. 

"By the same token, we still want our players to gain experience playing in leagues so when South Africa are not playing, guys are going to be free to play wherever they want because we want them to maximise their earning potential and then obviously come back to South Africa as better cricketers also,” he insisted.

“But when the Proteas play, and I can't put it more simply than that: all our players must be available for selection. If they make themselves unavailable for selection, well, that's a decision that they've made and the path that they've chosen."