Proteas coach Conrad admits Verreynne was impressive

Shukri Conrad has not been scared to make big calls during his short time in charge of the Proteas and has been prepared to have his mind changed too it seems.

One of the biggest talking points of the Proteas so far under Conrad was Verreynne getting axed behind the stumps.

Verreynne scored168 in five innings at an average of 60.86 against the Australians but was still dropped by Conrad, who made no issues about his preference for Heinrich Klaasen keeping wicket.

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Verreynne too good on tour

But the Western Province star bounced back nicely from the setback during the recent SA A tour of Sri Lanka.

He displayed some grit which has impressed Conrad.

Conrad, speaking to the Sunday Times, said: “I haven’t had the chance to have a lengthy discussion with him yet. I still want to, but what he showed me here, to want to come back after missing the first match because he was ill, indicated a helluva lot about Kyle’s mentality.

“I know he’s given me plenty to think about and did his chances of a recall [to the Test team] no harm.

“You could see in this [SA A] side how Kyle’s experience set him apart from others.”

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Verreynne’s mentality was on display when he scored an unbeaten 38 in the second tour match.

Proteas coach watching Stubbs

Tristan Stubbs was the biggest winner on tour though. The young Warriors star was the lone centurion – he reached three figures in the second four-day game – to go with two half-centuries in the limited overs series.

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“Matt Breetzke did well, we saw some good work from Dewald Brevis and by the last match Keegan Petersen was also finding some rhythm,” said Conrad.

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