Faf shines as SA captain while Joe Root takes flak

AS much as South Africa’s test series in England has been about teams who seem adept at winning and losing equally emphatically‚ the subplot has been about Faf du Plessis and Joe Root.

But while the rubber is level going into the third test at The Oval today, there is a clear leader in the captaincy contest. And he is not from Yorkshire. Media conferences featuring Du Plessis are becoming master classes in leadership prompted by questions from an English press pack who have not made up their minds about Root’s captaincy ability.

Du Plessis’s interaction with reporters yesterday was a case in point.

“When I took over it was at a time of real darkness as a test team‚” Du Plessis said of his elevation‚ originally as a stand-in for the injured AB de Villiers‚ for the home series against New Zealand in August – when South Africa had crashed to No 7 in the test rankings.

They beat the Kiwis and followed that with victories in Australia‚ against Sri Lanka at home‚ and in New Zealand, to surge back to No 2.

Du Plessis’s logical‚ understated captaincy approach has been an important factor in the success of a team who have lost only one of the dozen tests they have played under his leadership.

“I had a vision of where I wanted us to go and a blueprint for getting there,” he said. “But getting there doesn’t always happen – you have to be patient. Luckily things worked out a lot quicker than I thought they would.

“We won every series we played in‚ and it was a good year for the team and my captaincy.”

Typically‚ Du Plessis declined all the credit, saying: “As a young captain it’s important to find your own style of captaincy. “I’ve played under a lot of good leaders and I spoke a lot and listened a lot about leadership.

“And then you take little bits of everyone and form your own identity as a captain. Then you trust it and stay patient.

“If you know you have the right people on board and the right processes, hopefully the results will come.”

Root did not get off so easily‚ what with having to respond to some of his predecessors – mentor Michael Vaughan included – slinging harsh and even unfair criticism his team’s way.

That will not help England as they try to atone for the 340thrashing they were dealt in the second test at Trent Bridge.

Unsurprisingly‚ Du Plessis was happy to leave part of his job to former England captains.

“He’s their No 1 batsman – if you can put pressure on him by getting him out, the pressure will fall onto the team‚” he said of the focus on Root.

Not that the South Africans have been spared negativity from outside their dressing room.

That came in the form of apartheid-era batsman Graeme Pollock slamming efforts to transform the game in the country – which he said would produce middleof-the-road teams.

Du Plessis dispatched that view as surely as Pollock once drilled bowlers through the covers.

“We as a team understand what we need to do and how we need to take the country forward; we made that decision a long time ago‚” he said.

South Africa’s plan for doing so at The Oval will include Kagiso Rabada‚ banned at Trent Bridge after a fourth demerit point.

Perhaps Root should ask Du Plessis what he would do.

Getting there doesn’t always happen – you have to be patient