Steely Faf shows Proteas the way
SKIPPER’S GRITTY CHARACTER CAME TO THE FORE Changing team’s balance by bringing in an extra bowler was the key, says former South African cricket hero.
Jonty Rhodes says his reluctance to make tough calls and decisions cancels out any desire to be a head coach, but he adds these exact qualities are what makes Faf du Plessis a great captain.
Rhodes captained Natal for a brief period during his playing days, but always served as a trusty lieutenant to Hansie Cronje and Shaun Pollock in the national team. Although he travels the world as a consultant coach, with fielding his area of expertise, these days, he says he has no desire to become a head coach.
“As captain I used to take things too personally. You have to make the tough calls and decisions and that’s just not my personality, I prefer being more of a motivator. And that’s also why I don’t qualify as head coach material.
“But Faf is a hard guy, he’s very strong mentally and you see it in his batting, anywhere from No 3 to No 5 he brings that tenacity, he’s an unruffled batsman, he’s not flamboyant, he works flippen hard and plays to his strengths.
“He can block forever and maybe the comeback by the Proteas in the second Test, the way they just built and built the pressure on England, we didn’t give them an inch, we really grinded them, was a reflection of his character,” Rhodes told The Citizen yesterday at the CSA Centre of Excellence, where he was putting the national academy through their paces.
Rhodes added that with Jacques Kallis out of the picture, the Proteas had to make the tough decision to change the balance of the team by bringing in the extra frontline bowler in Chris Morris.
“For a long time we had Jacques, who was a frontline batsman at three and a frontline bowler and not many teams have that. We maybe didn’t appreciate how blessed we were because he was like having an extra player.
“So the Proteas had to make that call. It depends on what’s best for the situation and conditions, I suppose if there’s a bit of juice in the pitch and you can afford to have one bowler less, then you can play the extra batsman. And the time to move Quinton de Kock up the order was also now, while he’s still young and strong enough to do that and keep wicket.
“He can bat with the tail as well, because he hits a high percentage of boundaries, but he can fulfil both roles. He’s totally different to the other grafters in the top-order, before you know it he has 30 and it doesn’t look like he’s taken any risks.
“Sometimes you just have to bat and other times you need someone to take the game away,” Rhodes said.