Proteas coach Shukri Konrad admitted his team was not up to the challenge in their first Test defeat.
Coach: 'Proteas are similar to Burnley'
Conrad compared the Proteas to Burnley, who were struggling in the English Premier League, going to Anfield.
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“It's not okay. It's tough for everyone here. It's like Burnley going to Anfield every week,” said Conrad.
“If it’s a T20, you know you can win the match with one performance. [In Tests] It's been five days of constant effort and pressure. We have to always be at our best against a high quality team like New Zealand. ”
He feels the heavy defeat in the first Test is a wake-up call for the team.
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“Some of them would have been shocked by the harsh realities that Test cricket brings, and perhaps how far they are still. “I feel that there is,” he said. “You're going to go through a few days of what they went through. It's shocking and eye-opening.”
pressure
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Conrad added that there was no way to simulate the pressure of a Test match in New Zealand.
“Pressure affects you so much,” he said.
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“A lot of times when men get to this level, they feel like they need a silver bullet from all over the place. In reality, all you're doing is simplifying things. It's easy to say, get out. The harsh reality of Test cricket is that your every move is magnified on TV and your technique is torn to shreds. This is something players have to deal with.
“Every time you play in a test, there's an expectation that even if you can't do every stroke, you can probably dog for a reasonable amount of time and not drown,” Conrad said. “Yes, they were thrown into the deep end. But for the players to put their hands up and get back into a first-class system as a group and evangelize in terms of the requirements and what their experience is like. It's a great opportunity to spread the word. Hopefully by doing so we can raise the bar and stop building expectations every time someone gets a five-wicket haul or scores a hundred at domestic level. But… Yes, it’s a sink or swim situation.”
