New Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad is clearly not going to be a man wary of making tough selection calls. The 55-year-old mentor on Friday laid a huge marker in that regard by dropping Lungi Ngidi - until now a fixture in the South African attack in all formats - for the gifted but raw Gerald Coetzee. Hailed as a prodigy after lighting up the national Under-19 team of 2018 as a 17-year-old, the Knights quick went on tour to Australia with the national squad at the end of the year and promptly used that experience to finish with 17 wickets in the SA20, the second most in the tournament. With Conrad having worked extensively with Coetzee at youth level too, that haul of scalps was more than enough to convince him that Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje should have a new teammate completing the pace triumvirate. "It's quite simple for me. I believe Gerald Coetzee needs a good run," said the Proteas mentor. "We're all aware of his promise and he holds. Now's as good a time as ever to to unleash him, for want of a better expression. Without giving too much away, I'd like to believe I'll be in a position to play all our quicks in Centurion and depending on what the Wanderers conjures up, that starting XI might change. "It's purely Gerald ahead of Lungi for me right now. That's why I've gone for him. " READ | Gerald Coetzee's mental steel renders him a Proteas prodigy: 'He has strong views for 22' Another bold call is the omission of Kyle Verreynne, who's actually a fluent stroke-maker and emerged with credit from a nightmarish Aussie trip for the team by scoring the second most runs for South Africa in the series behind Temba Bavuma. Again, however, Conrad communicated clearly to all involved that he prefers Heinrich Klaasen, a batter with a tad more dynamism to his game. "Kyle's omission was tough but ultimately I get paid to make certain calls and subjectivity plays a part. This was my conversation with Kyle. He's done everything that can be expected. But I think Klaasie has done more and deserves a full crack," he said. "Klaasie is, in my opinion, not just a batter that we can stick in the field. He's been battling with an elbow because he's been forced to be in the field a lot of the time. I've always viewed him as a wicketkeeper-batter, so for me it was a straight shootout as to who I wanted. And that's Klaasie. "That's unfortunate for someone like Kyle. The door is certainly not closed to him. " Certain other selection moves were undeniably easier, notably the trio of over-30s in Rassie van der Dussen, Khaya Zondo and Sarel Erwee, all experienced and accomplished performers who arguably just lack the highest class for Test cricket. But Conrad is too much of a pragmatist and empath to simply shut the door on them, particularly Van der Dussen, who remains an excellent white-ball batter. "I don't think anybody's in a position ever to say there's no way back. You can never say never. but the change had to be made and we've made them. There's always a way in. And that was my conversation with those three players," he said. "What must they do to get back in? That was communicated to them. Obviously scoring a mountain of runs in domestic cricket at a good strike-rate - that, for me, is critical. If batters want to play at international level, you have to dominate domestically. "And it's not just about the volume of runs you score, it's how you score them. Any coach worth his salt will never turn his back on any of the potential options available to them. You can't say it's the end of the road. ".