EXCLUSIVE: Conrad reveals whether fear will eclipse caution in Rabada Test decision

“He’s like that most beautiful woman that you see — they’re worth waiting for.”

This was Proteas coach Shukri Conrad’s vivid assessment of whether he would rush fast bowler Kagiso Rabada back into action for the first Test in an exclusive interview with IOL Sport ahead of Australia’s arrival in South Africa.

Now, after including Rabada — who is still undergoing rehabilitation on his injured hamstring — in an 18-man preliminary squad on Monday for the Kingsmead series opener, Conrad again stressed that he will be giving his premier spearhead as much time as “humanly possible” to regain full fitness.

“There are some clever people around who are a lot smarter than I am when it comes to science and data and all the rest of it. So obviously, we will take all of those things into account: how he’s feeling, whether he’s uninjured, which is the starting point,” Conrad said.

“But also, will he be able to match the intensity that’s required of a Test match? So we’ll give it as much time as humanly possible. But we also don’t ever want to make a call based on desperation. So we’ll be, again, smart about it.”

Conrad admitted that the current fast-bowling situation, with four pacers — Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Ottneil Baartman, and Kwena Maphaka — struggling with hamstring injuries, is “a bit of a crisis.”

“It’s concerning. It’s a bit of a crisis, and we need to get things right,” Conrad said.

“I’ve been at the heart of a lot of conversations, and we are bent on making sure that we don’t go through this sort of thing again.

“And yeah, further than that, I’m sorry, but I don’t know enough about the actual causes. I’m only interested in solutions now, and I think we’re well on our way to establishing that.”

Alongside Rabada, Conrad has also recalled fellow pacers Anrich Nortje, Gerald Coetzee, and Dane Paterson from the Test wilderness.

Nortje has not played any red-ball cricket since Conrad’s first Test in charge of the Proteas in March 2023, while Coetzee and Paterson have also been on the Test sidelines for a while.

Coetzee last wore the Proteas Test cap against Sri Lanka in November 2024, while Paterson was overlooked entirely last year, despite taking consecutive five-fors in his last two Test matches at the back end of 2024.