Reinvented SA team gets going
THAT is not South Africa out there on the Waca’s green turf playing Australia in the first test today.
It is South Africa 2.0, a team determined to reinvent themselves for the future that measures up to a superb past.
“The record we had away from home was remarkable,” Faf du Plessis said yesterday. “It was by a long way the best by a touring team.
“That was something we were incredibly proud of. That changed.”
South Africa lost three tests in India last season and drew the other.
It probably felt like 4-0 – and they came home only to endure a 2-1 loss to England.
And that after starting the season ranked No 1, an accolade earned with significant input from the by then retired Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher.
It did not help that Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander spent most of 2015-16 out with injury, and that the captaincy passed from Hashim Amla to A B de Villiers in the throes of the England series.
All of which added up to South Africa spiralling to No 7. They have since recovered to No 5.
An indication of how far they fell is that only a 3-0 win over Australia will be good enough to lift them into fourth place.
A series loss to the Aussies, by any margin, will push South Africa down to sixth.
“We don’t want to be that team any more,” Du Plessis said. “We’ve started a new journey as a team. “For a year or so we were just trying to play in the shadow of the team we used to be. It was difficult to do that.
“I think we’ve got a better direction as a team now, an idea of where we want to go.”
A key part of that clarity is Du Plessis himself, a stand-in for the injured De Villiers as captain but increasingly obviously the best man South Africa have for the job.
Du Plessis, 32, said: “I understand what it takes to be a better leader and what the team requires, especially this team right now.
“It’s different now in that we are a team that all want to improve – there are no egos in our team.
“And if you have guys like that it’s very easy to captain.”
Gold. And green, of course.