War of words: Don’t expect much from Faf, Kane
JOHANNESBURG: Faf du Plessis and Kane Williamson have promised that they’ll play nicely, not like those meanies Virat Kohli and Steve Smith.
Player behaviour is very much under the microscope again and not just because of the Test series between India and Australia.
Among some new laws announced by the MCC yesterday – which the ICC are expected to ratify – is that players can be sent off the field for bad behaviour. Now, whether pulling faces and some of the animated sledging that has gone on in the second Test between India and Australia in Bengaluru constitutes “bad behaviour” is open to interpretation.
When Du Plessis was asked in Dunedin yesterday ahead of the first Test if there would be a particular emphasis placed on beating his opposite number Williamson – as the two skippers in Bengaluru have seemingly been trying to do – he said it was not in the nature of the pair to engage in a personal battle.
“It’s more the personalities of the captains. Kane and I are similar personalities so there won’t be much of a battle going on there ‘ego-wise,’” replied Du Plessis. It was a fairly loaded response to a reasonably simple question. And Du Plessis went even further. “It’s when you play against guys who act like they want to run the show then the captains can have an ego contest out on the field, but not with the two of us, we’re pretty chilled.”
Oh, so the implication was that those two hotheads – Smith and Kohli – couldn’t control themselves? “I’m not referring to anyone,” Du Plessis laughed. “That looks like a good battle at the moment.”
Williamson gave his two cents worth about the protagonists in Bengaluru too. “I’ve seen a little bit of the (India) footage ... It comes down to the individuals (and) how they like to operate,” said the soft-spoken Black Caps skipper. “They’re both very competitive individuals and outstanding cricketers. In a tight series you can see a lot of emotion come out. It’s all adding to some great viewing.”
The Test series in New Zealand is not expected to be as feisty, although there have been some memorable moments between the two teams in the past in other formats of the game.
Most famously of course was the 2011 World Cup quarter-final in which a number of New Zealanders sought to swap ideas with Du Plessis – Kyle Mills got physical – about the game.
“Yup, (the) 2011 World Cup, against New Zealand,” Du Plessis recalled. “It’s about a moment in the game when as a team you’re under pressure, that’s when senior players and leaders need to front up and step up to that responsibility.
“Different guys react differently to pressure. So whatever is needed at the time to get your troops up and going, that’s what the captain needs to do. At different stages it requires different leadership skills.”
Neither New Zealand nor South Africa have of late engaged in animated verbal exchanges with the opposition. A lot has changed as far as the cultures of both teams are concerned. The 2015 World Cup semifinal stands out as an example of how much respect there is between the two sets of players. The emotional ending to that match did not prevent players from the two sides mixing immediately afterwards.
And while the likes of Tim Southee remains unpopular with South African viewers – who still remember the verbal exchanges with Richard Levi during a T20 game in Hamilton five years ago – nothing quite as feisty as the Bengaluru banter is expected over the course of the three Tests in New Zealand.
The focus for South Africa is very much on their own performance. The series represents the end of the summer for the Proteas, which has been hugely successful and showed that they’ve overcome the hardships of the 2015-16 season when they lost Test series to India and England.
“We know we will have to play some good cricket to beat them because New Zealand are a tough team to beat in their own conditions,” said Du Plessis.