Du Plessis backs bowler to play the way he does

South Africa are already planning how to get by without Kagiso Rabada at Trent Bridge, and telling him he must not change when he returns at The Oval. Rabada must sit out the second Test in Nottingham because of an International Cricket Council ban for swearing after he dismissed Ben Stokes in the first innings of the tourists’ 211-run defeat at Lord’s.

Returning captain Faf du Plessis, back after the birth of his first child in time only to watch his team slide to 119 all out in their second innings, must decide whether two seamers will be needed to fill the gap left by Rabada when the second match of four starts on Friday.

However South Africa react there though, Du Plessis is adamant the seamer must not let his one-match ban affect his wholehearted fast bowling.

Rabada, 22, was described by his teammate Temba Bavuma as “heartbroken” at letting his country down. But Du Plessis said: “I’d never say to KG ‘change the way you are’.

“It’s important that he plays the way he does – I think every guy in cricket needs his instinct and personality, because that creates the best ‘you’. For not one second must he lose that.”

“For me, it’s just showing what you’re made of, that he wants to do desperately well for his country.

“Obviously, it’s a big disappointment for us not having him [at Trent Bridge]. It’s a shame, because he’s a real big part of this team – and in a big Test series like this, you want to see your best players compete against each other.”

Instead, South Africa may draft in all-rounder Chris Morris and another young seamer Duanne Olivier – or stick with the same balance of the team, with batsman JP Duminy vulnerable in any case because of Du Plessis’s return to the middle order.