Captain up to challenge
Du Plessis prime target for Aussies after fine showing
TWO centuries and a near miss gave South Africa plenty to be cheerful about on the first day of their tour match against a South Australia XI in Glenelg yesterday.
South Africa racked up 489, with Dean Elgar scoring 117‚ Faf du Plessis making 102 and Quinton de Kock out for 99.
Elgar and Du Plessis retired but De Kock’s innings ended when he tried to loft off-spinner Michael Cormack down the ground and was caught at mid-on.
But it was not all sunshine and runs for the visitors.
There will‚ for instance‚ be concern over the form of Stephen Cook‚ who was dismissed for a duck to bring his aggregate after three innings on tour to 17.
Temba Bavuma‚ who scored a bright 43 yesterday, is the only other frontline batsman in the squad who has not scored at least a half-century in South Africa’s two tour matches. Cook‚ Amla and Rossouw were all dismissed in the first 10 overs with only 46 runs on the board before Elgar and Du Plessis turned the innings around.
Du Plessis‚ usually a conservative batsman‚ spanked his runs off 112 balls with 16 fours and two sixes.
He can be sure that the Australians will have taken notice of his aggression ahead of the first test at the Waca next week.
As South Africa’s captain, Du Plessis will be the prime target for the Aussies’ habit of taking the fight to the opposing skipper.
Bavuma felt Du Plessis would be up to whatever the Australians throw at him.
“It’s not his first tour of Australia and it’s not his first time playing against Australia‚” Bavuma said.
“So he will definitely know what challenges will come his way and I definitely think he will be able to handle what comes his way.”
Du Plessis made his debut against Australia at Adelaide Oval in November 2012‚ where he scored 78 in the first innings and then batted throughout the last day in intense heat to save the match with an undefeated 110.