Oftentimes, it’s not what you mean so much as what words you use in which context that assumes great significance. If he didn’t know it already, Shukri Conrad would have been well enlightened by now.
South Africa’s inspirational coach has worked wonders since being appointed head coach of the Test team in January 2023, steering them to the World Test Championship title earlier this year and now sitting on the cusp of his nation’s first series victory in India since 2000. He is well-spoken and eloquent, is anything but disrespectful of the opposition, and while he is known to speak his mind, he doesn’t believe in theatrics or grandstanding.
Which is exactly why his ‘wanted them to really grovel’ comment on a mundane Tuesday evening came as a massive surprise.
In a cricketing context, the word ‘grovel’ assumed the nastiest hue in 1976. West Indies arrived in England for a Test series, anointed the favourites to best the home side. Tony Greig, England’s captain, didn’t take kindly to the English media talking up the visitors. In an interview to the BBC ahead of the first Test, Greig said, “I’m not really sure they’re as good as everyone thinks. These guys, if they get on top, they are magnificent cricketers. But if they’re down, they grovel, and I intend, with the help of Closey (Brian Close) and a few others, to make them grovel.”
‘Grovel’ has a few different meanings, but all of them point to subservience, at the very least. The Merriam-Webster dictionary explains it as ‘to lie or creep with the body prostrate in token of subservience or abasement’. The fact that Greig chose that specific word infuriated Clive Lloyd’s side. “The word ‘grovel’ is one guaranteed to raise the blood pressure of any black man,” Lloyd has been quoted as saying. “The fact they were used by a white South African made it even worse. We were angry, and West Indians everywhere were angry. We resolved to show him and everyone else that the days for grovelling were over.”
Using that slight as a massive inspiration, the Caribbeans went on to win the five-Test series 3-0; within nine months, Greig was stripped of the England captaincy as he shifted allegiance to Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket.
Conrad is clearly aware of the history, because he invoked the ‘to steal a phrase’ term immediately after the word ‘grovel’ while explaining South Africa’s rationale behind not declaring until 40 minutes into the final session on day four of the second Test against India in Guwahati on Tuesday. “What we felt is that when the shadows come across the wicket in the evening, there’s something in it for the quick bowlers, so we didn’t want to declare too early and not be able to use that.”
So far so good. Then came the comments that have sparked such a furore. “And then, obviously, we wanted the Indians to spend as much time on their feet out in the field, we wanted them to really grovel, to steal a phrase, bat them completely out the game, and then say to them ‘Come and survive on the last day and an hour this evening’.”
Ill-advised, or sinister? South Africa coach Shukri Conrad’s ‘grovel’ reference stirs a hornet’s nest
Did Conrad’s off-the-cuff comment contain a mischievous undertone? Certainly not, because there is no evidence of the 58-year-old having courted trouble for similar or like misdemeanours in the past. Was he trying to be cute? Perhaps so, though not knowing the man, one can’t say that with any authority. Was it a poor, ill-advised turn of phrase? Most certainly.
Conrad wouldn’t have been prepared for the uproar in India that his comments have sparked. There was a hint of a chuckle when he said the words he did, which might indicate to those who want to interpret so that the context wasn’t lost on him. One can understand the logic behind South Africa wanting to keep India on the park for as long as they could without jeopardising their victory push because tired and overworked bodies often trigger iffy decision-making. It’s by invoking the word ‘grovel’ that Conrad has stirred a hornet’s nest.
What repercussions there will be of Tuesday’s utterances remains to be seen. South Africa have been nothing but impeccable on this tour so far. Their cricket has been out of the topmost drawer, but they have also won fans with their humility and their grounded approach when they could so easily have strutted around and proclaimed their dominance, given that they have comprehensively outplayed the Indians thus far. Maybe it’s against this backdrop that Conrad’s unbecoming but non-malignant comment should be viewed. But if someone ascribes a more sinister motive, then Conrad has no one but himself to blame.
