"It's the perfect script for Pieter Malan"

The stage is set as Cobras opener Pieter Malan is set to make his debut at Newlands in the 2nd Test against England, writes Naeemah Benjamin.

An inspired and rejuvenated Faf du Plessis addressed the media ahead of the second Test match at the picturesque Newlands starting on Friday, 3 January.

He confirmed that Cape Cobras opening batter Pieter Malan will make his debut on Friday in place Aiden Markram who injured his left ring finger at Centurion during the Boxing day Test.

Malan will be the eighth player to earn a Test cap in South Africa’s last five Tests.

“Pieter Malan will come in at the top, making his debut at his home ground. It’s the perfect script for him,” said Faf du Plessis on Thursday.

“He seems really calm, collected and very confident in where his game is at the moment. It’s the perfect story for him, working hard all your life and then making your debut at the ‘Home of Cricket (Newlands)’.”

Malan has consistently put in performances in the domestic circuit and has deservedly been rewarded. Under the helm of Ashwell Prince, he has consistently been in the CSA 4-Day Franchise Series top run-scorers list for the past two seasons.

He’s a conservative player, very cool and calm, and has the tendency to build an innings and occupy the crease for long periods of time.

He has over 10 000 First Class runs and scored 892 runs averaging 55 in the 2017/18 and 821 runs in the 2018/19 season averaging 51.

In the 4 matches he’s played in the 19/20 season thus far he has scored 199 runs.

The domestic circuit always seems to be at the hand of negativity in terms of producing players.

In the past few seasons, we’ve seen that very same domestic circuit produce quality players and rewarding hard work.

“I think that’s a big positive for us, that the guys who are coming in now are experienced cricketers,” added Du Plessis.

“Even Pieter, making his debut, is a guy that knows his game, whether it’s domestic experience or international experience. It’s about making sure you know your game.

“I think in terms of weight of runs if you look at the season or two I think we’re in a good place from a batting resources point of view.

“Probably like two years ago we were looking around who were going to be the next batters like where were they coming from and if you look at the system right now, all of a sudden there’s a lot of guys scoring a lot of runs.

“Even if you look at someone like Keegan Petersen coming into the squad now – a helluva lot of runs scored over the last season and a bit and even a hundred against England.

“So the weight of runs, big hundreds, that’s generally where you want to look judging batters in the domestic game.

“For me, it’s a really healthy place if you can get guys coming through the system when they absolutely know their game in and out that’s when you can trust the system.”