South Africa coach Shukri Conrad said his side had enjoyed an “enlightening” evening with England fast-bowling great Stuart Broad ahead of their World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s.
Broad bowed out of international action two years ago, having taken 604 wickets in 167 Tests, with many of his best performances reserved for arch-rivals Australia.
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The 38-year-old met with the South Africans over a meal on Sunday to help with their preparations for the match against the reigning champions, starting on Wednesday.
“It was just a casual chat but if the guys hadn’t called time at 10:30 pm (2130 GMT) we’d still be there chatting,” Conrad told reporters at Lord’s on Monday.
“Everybody walked away thinking that was great.”
Conrad said he also welcomed a visit to Sunday’s training session from former South Africa captain Graeme Smith.
“He’s a legend in South African cricket, the most successful Test captain we have had,” he said. “He’s not going to impose himself but if anyone wants to have a chat he’s there for that.”
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Conrad said the interactions with Broad and Smith were not formal consultations.
“It’s just using whatever we can,” he said. “If it adds value, great.”
Conrad also batted back suggestions that South Africa had an easy route to the final, having not played against Australia or England during the championship cycle.
“I’m tired of speaking about it. We’re here and we’ve got a chance to walk away as world Test champions,” he said.
“Playing Australia, it doesn’t get any bigger than that. What’s gone before counts for absolutely nothing at the minute. We’re quietly confident going into this game that we can pull one over them.
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“We still hold Test cricket very dearly. Our fixture list might not speak to that, but this is the biggest final all of our players have ever been involved in and their biggest match.”
South Africa go into the five-day match with a novice batting line-up.
“The inexperience is very apparent in terms of the number of Tests played and their place in the ICC rankings,” said Conrad.
“So, I think it’s pretty normal that the chat is all about the bowlers when you’ve got guys like Kagiso Rabada, ranked two in the world, and Marco (Jansen) and (spinner) Keshav (Maharaj).”
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“But I think there’s a quiet confidence among the batting group. They got a lot of confidence, with hundreds for different players at different stages. So yeah, while there might not be superstar names among them, I think as a collective we’re pretty confident.”
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