Proteas still eyeing a place in WTC final after series win against West Indies

The Proteas sealed a 40-run win in the second Test in Guyana for a 1-0 success in the two-match series after the first game in Trindad ended in a rain-affected draw.

While acknowledging that the Proteas are still a side in transition in the longest format, Conrad admits that the incentive of playing in a final at Lord's in June next year is still in the back of his mind.

The Proteas still have six Test matches in the current cycle and will need to win all of them if they are to make Conrad's goal come to fruition.

They travel to Bangladesh in October for two matches before hosting both Sri Lanka and Pakistan in two-match series.

Conrad said: "We've got a big couple of months ahead of us to grow as a Test team. At the end of that, if we do very well and we win enough games, we can end up in the World Test Championship final.

"It's always nice if there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It's not the only reason we play Test cricket but it's a good thing that there is something for Test teams to aim for at the end of each cycle.

"There are World Cups in the other formats and there is no reason why Test cricket shouldn't have something like this.

"We're thrilled that there might be something for us at the end, if we win all of our tests."

Conrad has conceded though that the batting unit still needs more time in the five-day format to get better.

The Proteas did not score a hundred across the two games in the Caribbean with captain Temba Bavuma top-scoring with 86 in the first Test.

There were however some promising signs with the willow from Tony de Zorzi, in his first series as an opener, notching up scores of 78, 45 and 39 while Aiden Markram also struck a half-century in the second Test.

Conrad added: "The West Indies is a tough place to tour with the heat factor a real thing. They're a different team at home, and they were coming off a series against England, so they were also match ready, so I'm really happy with the result.

"But there's a lot of room for improvement, too. We did a lot of things well, but other things not so well. The batting is still our Achilles heel, there's not a lot of experience there, and that's also why we played the extra batter in first Test.

"The signs are there though that in time we can become a good unit. The bowlers seem to always keep us in the contest, but they've got a lot more experience. The batters will get there, they just have to play more Test cricket."

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