Destiny awaits the Proteas’ prowess
WHEN the South Africa cricket team returned victorious from Australia for the second consecutive time in 2012, more than one commentator called them “the best-ever Proteas team”.
Now Faf du Plessis’s class of 2016 has a great opportunity to cement South African cricket’s place among the pantheon of greats. Only the West Indies sides of the 1980s have ever left the shores of Australia triumphant after three consecutive wins.
To whip the Aussies in their own back yard for the third time, especially with Du Plessis’s former school friend and regular captain of the Proteas Test side AB de Villiers unavailable through injury, will take a Herculean effort, though. De Villiers is a superb batsman the Australians fear due to his feats in both previous series.
But, like Du Plessis has said countless times, any team he leads is not dependent on any individual for success. Their strength lies in the unity fostered under his leadership.
This was particularly evident during the OneDay International series in South Africa prior to the Test tour where the Aussies were handed a 5-0 whitewash for the first time in history. It was a truly special effort from a group of players working towards the same goal. And Du Plessis played a major part in that win, coming good with the bat and making all the right decisions on the field under intense pressure.
There will be unique challenges for the Proteas on this tour. They will play their first-ever Test in Hobart before travelling to Adelaide for a day-night Test using the pink ball. Although initially sceptical of the concept, the Proteas are now fully committed to playing Test cricket at night with a different ball and are in fact excited about taking the game to a new audience.
South Africa have no reason to fear the Baggy Greens, even with their lethal new-ball pair of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood returning for this series.
The Proteas have an abundance of talent, and there is a very good balance in the team.
There is the experience of Dale Steyn, Hashim Amla, Vernon Philander, JP Duminy and Du Plessis, and then there are the exciting younger ones Kagiso Rabada, Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma.
Their destiny awaits.