Ngidi's Test ousting: It looks mad... but there MAY be method

News24 Sport chief writer

Shaping things determinedly in his own style: it's something we were left in no doubt about as new Proteas Test head coach Shukri Conrad revealed his first major hand for the West Indies series.

That he boasts an unusually high level of personality authority in selection – something that may induce peeved, envious frowns from recent predecessors – was reflected in Cricket South Africa's own revelation on Friday that selection chief Victor Mpitsang (colleague Patrick Moroney is seemingly also side-lined) has been sacrificed.

CSA simultaneously emphasised that the men's head coaches, Conrad in Tests and Rob Walter for white-ball purposes, will both play "leading roles" under interim structures in picking squads.

Many will view that as a progressive move: chefs being responsible, as it were, for their own ingredients rather than handed a batch of them and expected to make them come together seamlessly in the fine-dining end product.

Conrad and Walter, it seems, will live or die by their decisions, without having the luxury of complaining that their hands have been somehow tied by outside influences when or if times get challenging.

The new Test mastermind has swiftly ruffled feathers in several respects, with alterations both to leadership (Temba Bavuma for Dean Elgar) and a pretty vigorous bag-shake among the rank and file, too, as a 15-strong group was named for the two-Test home clash with the Caribbean guests from later this month.

Just one was the swapping of wicketkeeper/bat Kyle Verreynne, despite the Capetonian emerging as second most resilient stroke-player to Bavuma on the recent Australian tour, with the reputationally attacking Heinrich Klaasen behind the stumps.

While Verreynne averaged 33.6