Faf du Plessis is buoyed by South Africa’s performances in the ongoing T20 World Cup in Australia.
He said, “We’ve got the right team for the conditions. If you want to pick a place for South Africa to play, I’d say Australia because we have more pace than other guys and the variety in our attack.
“We’ve got tall bowlers. We’ve got good left-arm options in Parny (Wayne Parnell) and Marco Jansen as a backup left-arm seamer, and two amazing spinners who are just so different. The bowling attack is hands-down the best. From a batting perspective, we’ve got guys in form, which is the most important thing at a World Cup.”
Du Plessis was also impressed with Temba Bavuma’s captaincy, despite his current lack of form.
“From a leadership perspective, he has carried himself really well. You can see there’s a maturity around him as a person and as a leader. He has worked for the team through some challenging times like last year at the World Cup, where you saw him stand up and be a good leader in that team. You can see that everyone is backing his leadership capabilities
“Obviously the runs part, is something people are talking about, Temba knows that. He needs to score some runs, that’s part of what we do. It looks like they’re going to back him for the whole World Cup, which as captain, is what you want for your dressing room to back you, for your coach to back you. At least, that’s very obvious to see.”
After Dewald Brevis scored a record-breaking 162 runs off 57 balls in the CSA T20 Challenge clash against the Knights, Du Plessis said, “Dewald has a great head on his shoulders.
“When you speak to a young guy, you pull him in and check that he’s not getting ahead of himself. I don’t think he’s thinking too far and wide about everything that is being spoken about him. He still wants to play Test cricket, which is amazing.
“Someone like him is pulled into the T20 game – that dream of doing it in all three formats for South Africa. My advice to him would be to keep your head down, keep working hard, and not get too ahead of yourself, which he’s not doing. He’s got a bright future for South Africa.”
Faf: Through Fire is available in bookstores across South Africa, and its e-book versions are available on Amazon internationally.
