Exclusive: Shukri Conrad the Ideal Successor to Rob Walter, Claims Former Proteas National Selector

Following Rob Walter's unexpected resignation as Proteas limited-overs coach, former Proteas selector and commentator Hussein Manack has told SportsBoom.co.za that he would give Test coach Shukri Conrad the first look as successor. 

Is Conrad the ideal candidate to take over?

South Africa was rocked with the shocking resignation of Proteas limited-overs coach Rob Walter on Tuesday afternoon, sending the whole country into a frenzy, with fans expressing their opinions on Walter's resignation on social media.

Former national selector and commentator, Hussein Manack, believes that Test coach Shukri Conrad is the first candidate that will be looked at as Rob's successor.

"I think you would firstly look at Shukri,  who's your Test coach. He would be the first person I would look at. Look at what he's achieved and how much is on his plate at the moment. Does he have the time?" Manack asked.

"You're going to look at the calendar and go like, okay, how much Test cricket are we playing over the next 18 months or two years? And from what I see, there isn't much."

"So I think Shukri, if we were playing as much Test cricket as India plays, for example, or England or Australia, then you would go like, okay, maybe we do need separate coaches (for the different formats)."

"But even then, in the South African context, certainly Shukri would be the first person I would look at and go like, listen, can we slot him in here? Can he do the job? I think he's done a good job at the Test level."

"He understands the game, understands the landscape and knows the cricket. If I look at the Test team, he's made some good calls on players, he's got the burnish to find a way to get the best out of them."

"So, yeah, I would look at him as a first option and then beyond that, of course, I think you could then look at all your domestic coaches and see who would be the one coach domestically that could perhaps slot in there."

Rob Walter's unexpected resignation

Though Walter cited personal reasons for his resignation, some believe his record alone would have been enough reason for him to walk away or for Cricket South Africa to show him the door.

Walter coached South Africa in 36 ODIs and 25 of them were in bilateral series. The 49-year-old only returned 12 victories in bilaterals, a feat that put him under pressure in his tenure.

His T20I record was poorer, with the Proteas winning only six out of 22 T20Is in bilateral matches.

However, in ICC events, Walter did well, leading the Proteas to their first-ever ICC final in the 2024 T20 World Cup, the semi-finals in the 2023 ODI World Cup in India and the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy.

Manack was as surprised as most South Africans when the news was confirmed by CSA on Tuesday.

The 56-year-old told SportsBoom that the record of the Proteas limited-overs teams suggests that Walter underperformed.

"Firstly, it was yesterday when I heard it, and yesterday was the 1st of April, so I thought, I don't know if this is an April Fool's joke," Manack told SportsBoom.co.za in an exclusive interview.

"It came as a bit of a surprise because I did hear recently Enoch make a comment that he's fully behind the coach and supports him and things like that going forward."

"I remember reading or hearing something like that. It did come as a bit of a surprise from that point of view. If you talk about it from a performance perspective, you could definitely say that Rob's underperformed."

Walter's questionable decisions

Manack believes there were instances where Walter's decision-making cost the team particularly in ICC events.

"I think as far as Rob's (resignation) goes, I mean I was surprised because of the fact that I heard Enoch (the CSA Director of national teams and high performance) did support him. But when you look at kind of the struggles he was heading in this Champions Trophy, I think if you look at this Champions Trophy, there were more questions than answers about some of the decisions that were made," said Manack. 

"For example, if I look at that performance in the semi-final, I still can't seem to find an answer as to why they would only play one spinner in that semi-final."

"In those conditions, in Pakistan, when New Zealand, the team we played against, played four spinners, bowled four spinners in the same match. They bowled, I think they bowled about 28 overs of spin, and we bowled 14 overs of spin."

"So we selected a team that basically, you would think that that's an 11 that's playing at the Wanderers. That's the type of team we picked, yet we were playing on the subcontinent.  So, there are more questions than answers coming out of some of these tournaments."

"And you go back to the (2024 T20) World Cup where we made the final, and we needed 30 of 30, or something like that. And then, somehow, we found a way to get out or lose the game. I don't want to sound harsh, but I think there's a lot of questions around some of the decision making, some of the thinking."

Walter is not all to blame

While the record suggests that Walter's T20I and ODI teams underperformed, Manack believes that Walter is not all to blame.

The 59-year-old believes that CSA and the structures employed from grassroots to professional cricket are all to blame as a collective.

"It's difficult to hold individuals accountable. I think that as much as a coach is ultimately accountable, it's still a collective. The performance of the Proteas team is still, I think the accountability must go to the collective," Manack told SportsBoom.   

"When I say collective, I'm talking about Cricket South Africa as a whole. You're talking about the entire organization from the grassroots level all the way up, the policies, everything that goes along with it."

"Yes, I think a coach is one piece of the puzzle, but I don't think he's ultimately responsible for what goes on."

"It's important to step back and have a look holistically at the cricketing structures. I think that's where we probably need to focus going forward."