FAF FOCUSED ON ENGLAND
FAF DU PLESSIS did not want to entertain questions about his long-term future.
All he would talk about was his short-term one, especially as it pertains to the next five days. Those five days may well shape the long-term future.
Win and he may choose to sail into the Test sunset – lose and he might be tempted to carry onto the West Indies and push for a kind of redemptive send-off there in July.
There is still so much taking place behind the scenes – with Du Plessis and more broadly South African cricket. In that sense it was understandable that Du Plessis wanted all the focus to be on the last Test against England.
It is one South Africa have to win to tie the series and they have to do so without their best bowler, while their most experienced bowler is playing his last Test, the batting unit has no confidence and all around the captain talk about his future keeps swirling.
Du Plessis admitted there was not enough time between what he described as an “average performance” in Port Elizabeth, where South Africa lost by an innings – and the start of the fourth Test to institute many technical changes especially as they may pertain to the team’s glaring weak spot – the batting.
Du Plessis announced one change to the batting unit – Temba Bavuma will replace Zubayr Hamza, with Rassie van der Dussen moving to No 3 while Bavuma bats at No 5. Another change to add batting depth could see the inclusion of an all-rounder – most likely Dwaine Pretorius given the Wanderers is his home ground and then the oft-held debate about an all-pace attack will also take place.
South Africa have gone into four out of the last five Tests played at the Wanderers with an all-pace attack. The exception was the 2018 match against Australia, in which Keshav Maharaj did pick up four wickets, but that match was played in April, right at the end of the season.
Maharaj has bowled reasonably well in this series, and the kind of variety he provides – and control – could prove helpful to Du Plessis.
The batting however will come in for the most scrutiny along with the overall attitude of a side that worryingly showed little fight in the previous Test, something Du Plessis put down to muddled minds.
“You can get let down by your skill and then through that it looks like you didn’t fight. We showed that (fight) at Newlands where there was good decision making, good game plans and the guys batted with clarity,” said Du Plessis.
“In PE we were almost a bit confused about how to bat. There was a lot of talk of how to play the spin positively, then how to play it negatively and block the Test out. Every guy has his own blueprint for how to score, and it’s about really being authentic in your style, what has made you successful and trusting that.”
Just as he did in the aftermath of the St.george’s Park defeat Du Plessis mentioned how his inexperienced line-up were possibly playing too much attention to advice and opinions from former players – many of whom are in TV commentary booths now.
“As a young batter when great players talk about how you should bat, guys listen because they are trying to improve.
“But there is also enough information in our dressing room to trust the senior players, to trust the coaches, speak to them and then most importantly trust what has got you to the level where you are now, being successful and not feeling like you have to change your game to be successful.”
Du Plessis admitted that above all his players had to show mental fortitude over the next five days against a team, that is now well on top of them.
“The only thing we must make sure of is to fight for absolutely every single inch on that field. We’ve spoken about how we can do that. In situations like this if you are mentally a little bit off it, teams that are on top of you – because I’ve experienced it – they just keep running with that momentum,” he explained.
“So it is important how we start this next Test. England are not just going to give us five wickets in the first session and say ‘here you go lets start playing now’. We know we will have to fight very, very hard to get into a position where we can win a Test again.”