Australia v South Africa T20: Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis admits facing Aussies brings out best of him
Many international batsmen seem smaller men in Australia, cursing at fans or cringing at rugged wickets. Not Faf du Plessis though. The South Africa skipper just relishes the challenge.
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Faf du Plessis was pottering around at the crease in Hobart last Sunday when he got just the break he needed – a whack on the fingers from Mitchell Starc.
The verbal heat lifted immediately. The infield seemed closer, the clapping more intense.
The warrior within him swore someone had just shoved smelling salts up his nostrils.
Perfect. Just what he wanted … and off he roared to 125 off 114 balls.
“Starcy bowled a good ball and I felt this energy coming from the field,” du Plessis said in Brisbane on Friday as he prepared for South Africa’s final game of another successful Australian tour.
“That was my moment to wake me up. It is something that just gets me going.’’
There you have it. A tiny tale which sums up why, of the South Africa captain’s 19 international centuries, seven have been against Australia.
Normally it’s the other way around. Many international batsmen seem smaller men in Australia, cursing at the crowds, cringing at the rugged wickets, bowlers and media and spending their days pondering why they can produce the goods against other nations yet fold meekly in our wide brown land.
By contrast, du Plessis wonders what it is that stirs deeply within him when he plays Australia that just isn’t there when he plays some other nations.
His Test average against Australia is double what it is against, say, Pakistan.
“I have to work out how I can get better against other teams because obviously there is something in there for me personally that it brings the best out of me.
“One thing I found out about myself is the challenge of playing Australia is that they are very competitive and that brings the best out of me as a person.
“It’s just the hardness of the challenge. It can be a tough moment in the game something that is happening on or off the field.’’
Australia has simply not been able to help itself by baiting du Plessis but clearly they got it wrong all the way back to the day, six years ago, when he completed a stunning Test debut century in Adelaide, batting throughout the last day to save a Test.
With his famous angular “cat who just swallowed the cream’’ grin, du Plessis does not even have to say a word to become a target.
Early on Australia sensed he liked to occasionally walk around without his shirt on and flash his well honed “guns’’ and would chip him with lines like “let’s get Faf back in the rooms so he can get that shirt off.’’
But he simply smiled and reset.
Du Plessis, 34, claims the World T20 in Australia in two years is likely to be his farewell to international cricket but no matter what lies ahead he stands as one of South Africa’s most successful captains, beating Australia in Test series at home and abroad.
Captains who beat Australia in Australia are rarely timid souls.
England’s Ray Illingworth took his team off the field in Sydney in 1970-71 after crowd taunts.
The most famous England captain of all, Bodyline villain Douglas Jardine, was asked by Australian reporters to name his team early for their deadlines and replied “I could not give a shit about your deadlines’’ and walked off.
Du Plessis is the same age as his great mate AB de Villiers but the two are different players. Where de Villiers was simply one of the greatest batsmen of his generation, du Plessis has no such claims and never tried to compare himself to the incomparable.
But there is a feeling he is a better leader of men in the way that teammates find him more relatable than magic man de Villiers.
“It’s a place I have always been happy with. I am good friend with AB, the genius that he is. For me being in the shadow I was always very content. I put most of my energy into captaining,” he said.
“The playing side of things would take care of itself. I never focused that much about my own individual game. I felt if I put a lot of energy into captaincy it would help with my own game. I never wanted to be in the limelight at all.’’
Yet he has handled that limelight as well any of his contemporaries and will be remembered in this country as the type of opponent Australians both love and loathe – the hard-nosed warrior who simply wouldn’t crack.
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Originally published as Australia v South Africa T20: Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis admits facing Aussies brings out best of him
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