Hard graft the basis as Faf, Josh thrive in Tests
Aussies ‘new McGrath’ is well rested ahead of series
THERE could not be two more different cricketers than Josh Hazlewood and Faf du Plessis on the international circuit right now. Besides their obvious physical attributes, with Hazlewood’s 1.96m dwarfing Du Plessis’s 1.80m, their personalities are poles apart too.
Whereas Hazlewood’s Twitter page consists primarily of cricket-related uploads, the Proteas captain is a much more urbane individual with his tweets reflecting on restaurant critiques, male grooming sessions and wine-tasting afternoons.
Scratch beneath that veneer, though, and you’ll find the players did show similar. singular desire to make an immediate impact on Test debut.
No Australian bowler will forget Du Plessis’s Test bow in a hurry – he blocked, blocked and blocked some more at the Adelaide Oval in the second Test of the Proteas’ last tour to Australia in 2012. Du Plessis’s unbeaten century literally brought the home side to their knees with the Australian selectors forced to make changes to the home side’s attack for the decider in Perth the following week.
Hazlewood was spared that suffering since he began his Test career only two years later against India at the Gabba. In that match the lanky paceman wreaked havoc with match figures of 7/142, which included a first innings “five-for”.
The duo also share an insatiable appetite for hard graft. There are other members of the Australian attack who possess more natural talent than Hazlewood by virtue of their greater pace or the ability to swing the ball more, but it is Hazlewood who has the consistency of line and length that regularly reaps rewards.
Du Plessis has come to the crease on most occasions in his Test career between Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers – arguably the most talented batsmen in South Africa’s modern Test history. He has needed to formulate a game plan which complements their attacking instincts, which has required a great deal of patience, concentration and self-restraint.
Although only 20 matches into his Test career, Hazlewood has already earned high praise, with pundits comparing the 2015 ICC Emerging Cricketer of the Year to a fellow New South Welshman and Australian legend Glenn McGrath due to his devilish combination of height, bounce, accuracy and deviation off the surface. These traits will certainly put Du Plessis’s technique through the sternest of examinations.
And like his famous predecessor, the 25-year-old will be looking forward to staring down the tourists’ skipper as McGrath so loved to do in his heyday. He will know that limiting Du Plessis’s personal contributions with the bat could trigger a ripple effect, impacting the way he leads the Proteas out in the field too.
Du Plessis, though, will not simply allow Hazlewood to dominate him. The Proteas captain is steeped in courage and oozes guts and determination. Even when his Test career was hanging by a thinnest of threads not too long ago, he remained steadfast in his approach and exuded the self-belief of a man who was not ruffled by the criticism coming his way.
And when the runs eventually came – a century at his home ground, Centurion, in the final Test against New Zealand – and still did not satisfy the haters because of a low strike-rate, Du Plessis had a simple retort.
“When I score big runs in Test cricket, it’s when I play those gritty innings and mentally tire the opposition out,” he said. “I had to make sure I knuckled down to my game plan and waited for the bowlers to bowl in my areas.”
Du Plessis has been very vocal about the psychological edge the Proteas will take into the Test series due to the 5-0 ODI whitewash the Aussies suffered in South Africa earlier this month. Hazlewood was at home resting while his national teammates were taking a pasting, but maintains the recuperation was just what the doctor ordered for him to come firing back at the South Africans in the Test series.
“Sri Lanka was a long tour physically and mentally,” Hazlewood said. “And with a lot of cricket coming up I think the rest was valid. There’s a lot of change to the teams from Test cricket to one-day cricket. There will be a few guys there carrying what happened but there will be a lot of fresh faces. It gives us a lot of motivation.”
Both sets of players will certainly not need any extra incentive to perform when the series concludes in Adelaide with a day-night Test, given that it could be all square at that point.
Hazlewood will certainly have the advantage at this juncture after he was named man of the match in the inaugural floodlit Test between the Aussies and New Zealand last year, for his match figures of 9/136. He particularly enjoyed the 8mm of grass that was left on the Adelaide Oval pitch, which kept the pink ball seaming and swerving throughout under the evening skies.
His pink-ball knowledge is certainly greater than that of Du Plessis, who said last week: “I haven’t faced or thrown the pink ball around so it’s all pretty new to me” ahead of the past weekend’s warm-up match under lights against the Cricket Australia XI.
But, pink ball or red ball, be sure to keep a close eye on the Du Plessis-Hazlewood battle for neither player is going to give an inch over the course of the three Test matches.