Shukri Conrad proud of Proteas’ achievements after SA Sports Awards nomination

Conrad has been nominated for the Coach of the Year award at the SA Sports Awards, alongside athletics coach Thabo Matebedi and his friend, swimming coach Rocco Meiring. 

Proteas captain Temba Bavuma is also nominated for Sportsman of the Year, while the Proteas are in the running for Team of the Year. 

The awards will take place at Sun City in the North West on Sunday night.

"The World Test Championship was the first ICC event we won, and I'm extremely proud of what we have achieved, I'm proud of the team, the support staff and the management.

"I'm obviously thrilled with the nomination but it's never the reason why we do what we do. It is still always great to be nominated for awards like this one, and at the end of the day we just want to make the cricketing public proud."

READ: Temba Bavuma says SA cricket is in a good place after award nominations

Conrad guided the Proteas to the ICC World Test Championship title and a memorable Test victory over India away from home in 2025. 

Despite those achievements, Conrad believes nothing will compare to winning the 2027 World Cup on home soil.

Conrad, who was initially appointed as the Proteas Test coach before taking charge of the team across all formats, jokes that even a World Cup triumph would not completely erase South Africa’s reputation as chokers.

"I think that marketing tool is going to hang around forever even if we were to win the next World Cup, but we don't pay too much attention to that. However, in the same breath we are desperate to win a World Cup and give our supporters a reason to celebrate on home soil and give them the World Cup that has been missing."