Klaasen's retirement a short-sighted move? SA head coach Conrad hopes not

South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad has expressed his "disappointment" over the international retirement of Heinrich Klaasen but played down suggestions of a rift between them. Klaasen, who announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday, stepped down from Tests in January 2024 - 11 months into Conrad's tenure as red-ball coach and after being dropped from the South Africa side following a poor series against West Indies.

Conrad does not think Klaasen's decision was prompted by his pronouncement that South Africa's best players need to be more available for bilateral series than leagues, but confirmed he has yet to have a conversation with Klaasen about his reasons.

"Obviously, if you lose a player of the calibre of Heinrich Klaasen, you'd be disappointed," Conrad told the media at South Africa's warm-up match against Zimbabwe at Arundel. "But if that's the narrative that you want to espouse, that I'm the common factor, then be my guest. I haven't even had a conversation with Heinrich. He turned down the contract long before I was even a thought in the white-ball space. It's really unfortunate that we lose a player of his calibre. He's one of the best in the world, if not the best, among the white ball middle-order batters."

Conrad was confirmed as South Africa's all-format coach in May, a month after Klaasen was not included on CSA's central contract list, even as a white-ball-only player.

At the time, CSA said discussions with Klaasen were ongoing. Klaasen is signed to play in both MLC and the Hundred, which take place in July and August, at the same time as South Africa are due to play a T20I tri-series in Zimbabwe and a white-ball series in Australia. Klaasen is understood to be wedded to those deals and would have opted out of South Africa's tours, which Conrad is leaving little room for, as he expects players to put national duty first.

"I'd be disappointed if it [Klaasen retiring to favour leagues] was, because we didn't have a conversation," Conrad said. "I think if guys pre-signed deals prior to me coming on board, I certainly wasn't going to come in there and say, 'Well, you have got to withdraw from whatever you pre-signed.' So without us ever having a conversation, I'd be disappointed if that was why he retired. From the little bit I know, I know Heinrich from way back when he was at the academy, kept in the academy sides when I was the coach. I'd be very surprised if he was as short-sighted as that. I think he's obviously got really good reasons for why he's retired, and we've got to respect that."

An example of Conrad's flexibility will be seen later in the year when David Miller, who is on a white-ball-only contract, will miss the Zimbabwe or Australia tours. "He has signed at the Hundred and but he's going to come and tour England with us," Conrad said.

He also indicated some players will be given conditioning breaks during the year, which could impact both their league and international availability. "Some guys are going to have a break during MLC and not get selected because of the break that we feel they need," Conrad said. "People maybe got it slightly wrong in that they probably felt that I'm imposing these things on the players. It's far from it. The only thing I said, and I'll keep saying it, is when South Africa plays, we want our best players available. And I'm not changing my stance on that, I think the players respect that. Conversations will be had, we'll work it out for players, plan their year, and then everybody will be good to go and happy with the arrangements."

All that does not mean the door is closed on Klaasen, who was expected to be a key player for South Africa's T20 World Cup campaign next year and possibly even the home ODI World Cup in 2027. Conrad left matters open to discussion in future.

"Once the dust has settled and I manage to have a conversation and sit down with Klaasie, then we'll try and see," Conrad said. "I don't know what his future plans are. For now, we have got to respect his decision, and I'm sure he's done it for good reasons."