The World Cup was so close that Shukri Conrad could touch it. He didn’t. He’ll leave that for next year — hopefully. “When I looked at the trophy from a distance tonight, I thought, ‘Ya, I’d love to get my hands on that’,” said the Proteas head coach at an event this week that served as the official launch for next year’s tournament. “We owe it to the country. We owe the country a World Cup, and we are hell-bent on delivering.” He quickly added that it won’t be easy. Conrad, like every South African, has vivid recollections of the previous failures the national team has endured at the World Cup.Allan Donald’s run out in 1999 — “traumatic”, he remarked — Duckworth/Lewis in 2003, the last time South Africa hosted the ODI showpiece, the choke in Dhaka against a revved up New Zealand in 2011 and Grant Elliot’s six in Auckland four years later, represent a portion of the litany of World Cup heartache. Conrad, typically, doesn’t shy away from that history. “I know the saying ‘It’s the hope that kills you.’ But for me, it’s the hope that excites me.”He won’t hesitate to reach out to members of the 2003 squad, which was knocked out in the Super Six phase of that tournament, for advice about dealing with the pressure and expectation of playing in a home World Cup.“It would be foolhardy not to lean on guys who have experienced that. There definitely will be conversations with guys that have played in World Cups in South Africa previously,” he said.There are more than 12 months to go before the tournament — which will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia — kicks off, and significant challenges await the Proteas this coming season.“It’s important that we don’t take our eye off the ball. For me, Temba [Bavuma] and the senior group, we understand the enormity of the summer, but we are excited by it. A three-match Test series against Australia, then a resurgent Bangladesh, and then the Balmy Army and everybody arrive towards the end of the year for what will be a lovely Test summer.”The eight Test matches [three against Australia, two against Bangladesh, and three against England] are the priorities for this season. “We are desperate to get to a WTC final again,” said Conrad.Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram and Bavuma, who all feature in different formats, will be rested for the limited overs matches against Bangladesh. Conrad wants what he called the “shadow World Cup squad” to feature in the three ODIs with England, which will follow the Tests in January next year.“Obviously we want to win the ODI series against Australia, Bangladesh and England, but that will be used to panelbeat and fashion what the World Cup squad could look like,” he said.“We have to be very deliberate about planning and be smart about that planning. The World Cup is massive for the country and the players as well.“We might not have the names we had in games gone by, but we have a group of guys that pull together. I’m not suggesting the other guys didn’t. What we realise is that what we might lack in experience, we make up with a bond, togetherness and a desire to play as a unit. While we are doing that the guys are getting better at international cricket.“We did something special with the Test side last year, and we hope to replicate that with the ODI side,” said Conrad.TimesLIVE