Faf du Plessis probably does not realise it yet but he may have unwittingly given Australia a ready-made sledge when the war of words resumes in the upcoming one-day series.
“We’ll probably face them in the semi-final of the World Cup or something like that,” du Plessis said, when asked about the value of playing Australia at home with less than three months to go before the World Cup.
“Ah, so you reckon South Africa will win the quarter-final this time,” might come the ready response from the likes of Michael Clarke or Mitchell Johnson when the teams meet from Friday and it will give South Africa exactly the kind of practice they want most before the big event.
“That’s the great thing about playing Australia,” du Plessis said. “We play a very similar style of cricket on the field. We are competitive. We like to get into each other’s faces.” It just so happens that this year, the two countries have had cause to make contact more than other times.
South Africa hosted Australia for a Test series in March, which is where all the banter began. Midway through the series, David Warner all but accused AB de Villiers of ball tampering – which earned the opener a fine and got South Africa’s back up – but it was in the final match that matters reached a head.
Du Plessis likened Australia to a “pack of dogs” because of their possessive handling of the ball; they promptly howled him off the field in retaliation. Then Clarke and Dale Steyn exchanged words on the last afternoon. The exact content was never made public but it was so upsetting to Dale Steyn, he recently revealed he has not forgiven Clarke for uttering whatever he said. In August, when the teams met in Zimbabwe for a triangular series, South Africa got their own back by beating Australia in the final.Now they meet again and du Plessis expects more fireworks but hinted South Africa will not be the ones lighting them. Not even Steyn.
“Australia will always play aggressively and be very competitive but we don’t spend any time talking about who is a target or who we don’t like or anything like that,” he said. “It’s just a case of knowing we are playing against Australia and they are a really good team. Dale is very competitive, he wants to get wickets, he’s a fast bowler, he wants to bowl bouncers and as quickly as possible.”
But beyond the boundary, Steyn may not want that kind of confrontation, as du Plessis explained when describing the camaraderie between the two teams. “We have a great relationship,” he said. “After the series in Zimbabwe after we beat them in the final, we sat after and had a beer together. There was a lot of respect between the two teams. It’s just competitive, we want to do anything to win the game and they are the same.”
All the members of the South Africa squad expect a heated contest for the 10 days in which they will play five matches against Australia but they don’t want to shy away from it. Instead, they consider is the best preparation they could have before they return Down Under to try to end their major tournament trophy drought.
Success in the upcoming ODIs will almost complete what has been a rigorous preparation phase that has taken them to both countries where the World Cup will be hosted. They will still return home to face West Indies before the tournament and will use those matches to fine tune but the bulk of the planning will be done in Australia, where victory would put South Africa on top of the ODI table and in pole position to finally come out on the right side of a knockout match.
“Winning big moments is about the team you have and the results you have been getting. We’ve got a really good team at the moment and we’ve been winning a lot of games,” du Plessis said. “In the past we went to a World Cup, where we probably weren’t the best side but this time, we’ve got a really good side and we’ve been winning. Everything is stacking up nicely for us now. It’s just about doing the same things we’ve been doing.”
