VIDEO | Not choke but a snotklap, says SA coach Shukri Conrad after T20 WC semifinal loss vs NZ
South Africa’s T20 World Cup campaign came to a crushing halt in the semifinals as head coach Shukri Conrad bluntly admitted his side was outplayed by New Zealand, insisting the heavy defeat was no “choke” but a complete domination by the opposition Kiwis.
The New Zealand side crushed last year runner up South Africa’s hope to cross the line, by handling it a heavy nine-wicket win powered by batter Finn Allen’s ton.
“I don’t know if tonight was a choke. I thought it was a bloody walloping,” Conrad said bluntly.
“In order for you to choke, you must have had a sniff in the game. We didn’t have a sniff. In South Africa, we’d say we ‘got moered’.” He then used a distinctly South African phrase to sum up the defeat.
“Tonight, we got a proper ‘snotklap’ — that’s an Afrikaans word for a real hiding, a smack you don’t see coming. That’s what it felt like,” said Conrad, who had courted controversy during last year’s Test series in India with fiery comments about wanting the Indian team to “grovel”.
He further admitted New Zealand had outplayed them in all departments.
“I thought New Zealand were excellent. They exploited the conditions really well, especially with their spinners up front. We never got out of the blocks,” he said.
“We chose a really bad night to have an off day. Maybe it would have been nice to win the toss, but that’s no excuse. We didn’t put up anything close to a competitive score.” He brushed aside suggestions that playing bulk of their previous matches in Ahmedabad had left them underprepared for a different venue.
“There’s always something you can point to… playing all our games in Ahmedabad, coming to a new state… but that’s not why we lost,” he said.
“They strangled us early, never allowed us momentum and every time we tried to rebuild, they shut the door. We weren’t good enough and they were excellent.” Despite the crushing defeat, Conrad took pride in his side’s seven-match winning run en route to the semifinals as they were the only undefeated side to the last-four.
“We did so many special things in this tournament. I’m incredibly proud of these guys,” he said.
“Not many people gave us a chance of making the semifinals when we left home, given our form before the World Cup. But that’s no consolation right now. You get judged on World Cups and winning them.
“The guys are hurting, as they should be. But we played some exceptional cricket through this campaign,” he signed off.
Published on Mar 05, 2026
