“I could have chosen a better word” - SA coach Shukri Conrad clarifies his ‘grovel’ remark after ODI series loss

South African head coach Shukri Conrad has opened up on the usage of the ‘grovel’ word during the second and final Test of the two-match series against India, stating that it was ‘never his intention to cause malice’ and added that he could have ‘chosen a better word’.

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Speaking in the post-match press conference after South Africa’s 1-2 ODI series loss to India, Conrad clarified his controversial comment, asserting that he intended that South Africa wanted India to spend a lot of time in the field in the second innings to make things really tough for the hosts.

"On reflection, it was never my intention to cause any malice or not be humble about anything. I could have chosen a better word because it left it open for people to put their own context to it. The only context I ever intended it to be was that we wanted India to spend a lot of time in the field and make it really tough for them. I have got to be careful what word I use here now because context could be attached to that as well,” Conrad said in the post-match press conference. 

"It is really a pity. Maybe what it did do was spice up the ODI series, and especially with India winning that now, the T20 series becomes even more so. The unfortunate thing is, with all the noise that word caused, I still think it is a perfectly good English word, but I just left it open to too many interpretations. What it did was take away the gloss of what was a really special win for our Test team. It is unfortunate, but there was definitely no malice intended," he added.

For the unversed, the term "grovel" was first used by the former England cricketer Tony Greig during the West Indies team's tour of England in 1976, when he expressed his team's intention to "make WI grovel". At that time, the comment was perceived to be a racist remark.

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