Conrad: 'We're the world champions, we create our own reality'

South Africa have "created our own reality" to become World Test Champions, and for head coach Shukri Conrad, that is significant beyond the present moment. It is something that as players, neither he nor his father Sedick could do.

Both were active during the Apartheid era, when players of colour, no matter how good they were, could not represent South Africa. On March 11, Sedick Conrad passed away, exactly three months before Shukri would oversee the opening day of the WTC final.

"With two runs to go, I remember the old man saying to me, 'I just want to see you beat Australia one day'," Shukri told reporters on the outfield at Lord's, wearing dark glasses to hide his eyes.

"They [The eyes] are worse than Kesh's," he'd told the broadcasters after Keshav Maharaj, whose father Athmanand was also a cricketer for whom national representation was impossible, broke down on air.

Maharaj's many tears were the least expected, given his usually poker-faced public demeanour, but the most emphatic as South Africa allowed their emotions to pour out after ten sessions of tense Test cricket.

"It was probably the two worst hours of cricket for me, but the two best at the same time," Shukri said. "We were living every emotion, almost sketching everything that potentially could go wrong. The mind just plays weird and wonderful games. When Scholsy (Kyle Verreynne, who is nicknamed after English footballer Paul Scholes) smacked that one, there was just an outpour of applause from everyone. I'm thrilled for these guys."

Equally, they will be thrilled for him. Shukri is the ultimate home-grown coach, is little-known outside of South Africa's cricket circles. But he has walked every path within it. He has coached two of the most successful provincial sides (Gauteng and Western Province), the national academy, the under-19 side and A side and can make his selections based on wide and deep knowledge of the country's game.

Some of them have raised eyebrows including recalling Aiden Markram for his first series in charge, appointing Temba Bavuma captain, dropping and then going back to Verreynne, sticking with Dane Paterson and most recently, putting Wiaan Mulder at No.3 and opting for Lungi Ngidi, who had not played a Test in ten months, for the final. All of them have paid off. He created a reality in which a South African side others may have considered a mish-mash came together to make a dream come true.

"This is not me trying to justify my selections in any way. This is purely a case of every single guy on this side wanting to deliver and play his part. And everybody did," Shukri said. "We're the world champions. We create our own reality. (People were saying) we haven't played any of the big three. Well, now we've played one of them and we beat them. This is not me being arrogant. This is me saying when we play against the supposed top three, we will perform. And we're the world champions."

South Africa played, and drew a series, against India at the start of this WTC cycle and did not play England or Australia in the two-year period and faced criticism over a so-called easy run to the final. Shukri always dismissed that as bluster and continued to in the aftermath of the final.

"We play whatever's put in front of us. There's a lot of things we'd like, but we can't get, so we just play the cards we're dealt with. And it's often not what you dealt, but how you play those cards. And I think we've done nicely."

Now, he has additional ammunition because of who South Africa overcame in the final. It's not just that it's Australia or that they are the defending champions but they have historically bossed world cricket and won more trophies than anyone else. So there was no surprise that Shukri's voice was bolder when he reflected on how tough the opposition was. "Arguably the best side in the world - we've just beaten them," he said.

He took the wide-lens view of what the match itself, where the advantage crossed the floor several times on each day, said about the appeal of the game. "It's easy to say this because we've won, but if the result was different, it'd still have been the best cricketing experience we've ever been a part of," Shukri said. "It's an absolute spectacle. Everything about this place is spot on: the vibe, the crowd support, it was wonderful. And for people who take time off and spend hard-earned cash at 24 Rands to a Pound to come out here and support, we're just thrilled that we could deliver for them as well."

Over 100,000 people packed Lord's across the three-and-a-third days and a majority of them were supporting South Africa. While the South African expat population made up a lot of the crowd, a healthy number had flown into London for the week, including over 400 hosted by sponsor of Cricket South Africa. They sang songs of home including Shosholoza (the unofficial national anthem that was sung by mine workers and symbolises undying resistance), Ole Ole (the eternal football chant) and "Oh Temba Bavuma" to the tune of Seven Nation Army, over and over and over again.

Scenes like these are hardly ever part of a South African Test summer, where only Newlands and SuperSport Park sell out but Shukri hopes the WTC win will inspire interest in the longest format. "I just want people to fall in love with first-class and Test cricket again and I think people will, because the spin-offs are immense," Shukri said. "T20, the most popular format, benefits if you've got a strong first-class system and a strong Test team. You only need to look at the IPL. Our players are the most sought after, and today we become World Test Champions as well."

South Africa will have to wait more than a year to find out if that will be the case. There are no home Tests this summer, as the tour to India ends in mid-December and the SA20 starts shortly after, and grounds are being refurbished for the 2027 ODI World Cup. But next season they host eight Tests, including three each against England and Australia. It seems like too long to ask South African fans to wait to see their champion team, but they waited long enough just to be able to label them that. Perhaps the long break will give them a chance to realise that winning a world title is now their reality too.