Big season ahead for Cape Town City FC
Proteas will undoubtedly miss Du Plessis’ calm leadership, tactical acumen
SOUTH AFRICA are about to play England in a series-opening Test at Lord’s. This, as always, is a grand occasion to savour.
But the visitors, desperate to rescue a tour that went spectacularly south during the white-ball component, just can’t seem to focus squarely on the task at hand.
Both captain and coach have returned to South Africa at some point to deal with pressing family matters, which undoubtedly would have exhausted much mental energy.
Often professional sportspeople operate within a bubble debarred from the “real world”. This cannot be said of this current Proteas team, who have faced numerous off-field challenges of late.
But at least Monday brought some clarity. Test captain Faf du Plessis will not be back in time to lead the Proteas at Lord’s. Although his wife Imari gave birth to their baby daughter last Thursday, according to team doctor Mohammed Moosajee “the difficult nature of the delivery” meant Du Plessis had to remain in South Africa for a little while longer.
Dean Elgar will captain in Du Plessis’ absence.
Du Plessis took to social media to express his disappointment at missing out on what is likely to be his sole opportunity of playing a Lord’s Test.
“Extremely sad that I won’t be able 2 front up 2 the challenge with the team. Be there soon. In the meantime I will be there nr1 couch fan,” Du Plessis posted on Twitter.
South Africa will undoubtedly miss Du Plessis’s calm leadership and tactical acumen, in addition to his batting, but at least new captain Elgar will have Russell Domingo by his side to guide him through his maiden captaincy Test.
Domingo is back in London after rushing to be at the bedside of his mother, who was involved in a terrible motor vehicle accident last week.
But not only is the 42-year-old back in the Proteas saddle, he is intent on remaining there for a while yet after confirming that he has reapplied to be South Africa’s coach when his contract expires.
“I have forwarded my application form and I did go through an interview process,” Domingo confirmed yesterday. “I can’t comment much further ... there’s obviously a process that needs to take place now.”
Regardless of what the CSA Board decides, Domingo does have the full support of the senior players with the national team setup.
“The most important support you need is from your players,” Domingo said. “We work with these players day in, day out. I’ve loved my time working with them and, obviously, by the support they’ve shown they’ve enjoyed what we’ve offered the team. That is satisfying.”
Domingo also stated “there’s a lot I’d like to achieve with this side – an ICC event is a big thing for us.”
That is a significant ambition, but for the next couple of weeks the focus needs to be squarely on the red ball and four Tests against some serious opposition.
Who knows, for it might just be the difference, between Domingo returning here two years later still at the helm of a group of players ready to have one final crack at a World Cup or – like Du Plessis will be for the next few days – South Africa’s “nr1 couch fan”.