Will flaky Faf fall on his sword?
FAF Du Plessis will face even greater pressure than he has already endured in the last year after what will be a humiliating defeat today — provided there isn’t a full day of rain to save his beleaguered side.
He became the first south Africa captain to lose a test series on home soil against a team from the subcontinent when his men went down 2-0 to lowly sri lanka a year ago, before leading them to ignominious failure at the World Cup.
Worse was to come in india in October when they were thrashed 3-0 in another test series, the last two defeats by an innings. Now this. it’s not just the results, it is the nature of the performances which rankles, the apparent lack of fight which is so alien to south African sports culture.
Head coach Mark Boucher did his best to deflect criticism from his under- siege captain but stopped short of defending him. ‘it’s not the time to start pointing fingers, it’s a time for self-reflection,’ said Boucher.
‘ultimately, i need to take responsibility for the performance of the team and i need to ask myself how i can upskill these players, mentally and physically, in a short space of time to make them better players.’
there is no doubt that Du Plessis ( right) remains a strong and natural leader, and that he has the full support of his team, but increasing signs of eccentricity and unpredictability have created more doubts about his suitability. in india he was accompanied at the toss by his vice- captain, temba Bavuma, as a ‘ lucky mascot’ to change his luck (it didn’t work). then yesterday he reviewed his dismissal by Joe Root after getting a thick inside edge on to his pad which was caught at short leg.
Boucher added: ‘it’s easy for me to sit here. i’m happy with his state of mind but, for me, his state of mind will only be improved if gets out there and scores runs.
‘the positive for me is that he gave himself a chance today, assessed conditions and faced well over 100 balls. He’ll take some confidence from the fact that he spent a decent amount of time in the middle.’
A year ago, Du Plessis would have been given licence to carry on for as long as he wanted and retire on his own terms. But a year is a long time in cricket and the question is being asked with increasing volume: might he step down if south Africa don’t salvage a share of the series next week at the Wanderers?
‘i have no clue, he hasn’t said anything to me,’ said Boucher. ‘i don’t think so. We all know he’s under pressure. i’ve been in teams that have been pretty low. We’re in a very bad situation in this game but we’re still in the series. ‘ it wasn’t easy in these conditions. the bottom line is that our nation wants to see performances. today was not a day we can say we fought hard.
‘ it was a lacklustre performance, but we can’t get too emotional about it. We need to put in a lot of hard work, and that’s what
we’ll do.’