Blame me for mental error, says Faf

Hindsight is the only exact science and Proteas captain Faf du Plessis admitted on Tuesday that his soft dismissal on the final day of the second Test against England at Newlands was a mental error, but he also warned that the South African team is starting to rediscover the fight that is the hallmark of their cricket history.

With the Proteas needing to bat out the final day in Cape Town to secure a draw that would maintain their 1-0 lead in the four-match series, Du Plessis had come in 10 minutes after the start of play following the fall of nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj.

The skipper looked in typically defiant blockathon mood as he occupied the crease for 79 minutes, scoring 19 runs.

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But then, out of the blue, he decided to sweep off-spinner Dominic Bess and hit the ball straight to square-leg. His dismissal, half-an-hour before lunch, opened the middle-order to the second new ball.

“In hindsight, with square-leg and midwicket up, I should have gone up and over or kept it on the ground. To play the sweep shot and get caught between the two was a mental error, but you’re just trying to get one or two fielders away from the bat. I just needed to drop anchor though.

“We said before the second innings that we needed to play the spin more aggressively, put the pressure on the bowlers, push mid-on and mid-off back. But if you get out it does look silly. There were one or two mental errors out there today but it was not like when we imploded quickly in India when we were very mentally weak,” Du Plessis said.

Although the unflashy but hugely impressive Pieter Malan, who batted for more than six hours and faced 288 balls for his 84 in his debut Test, was dismissed by the second new ball, Rassie van der Dussen and Quinton de Kock showed outstanding skill and judgement as they batted through to tea and for more than two hours overall.

De Kock made his slowest ever Test 50 as he struck the perfect balance between his natural game and dogged resistance, while Van der Dussen was like a rock, batting for more than three hours and facing 140 deliveries for his 17.

Along with Vernon Philander fighting for 71 minutes, it meant England had to wait until after 5pm, with just 8.2 overs remaining, to clinch victory.

“There were a lot of small margins in this Test match and I’m extremely proud of how the team fought, we gave everything we had, they threw the kitchen sink at us today but we gave back almost as good as we got. It’s about improving as a very young Test team and, compared to India, we will take confidence from the way Pieter and Rassie dropped anchor, there were some real good signs.

“You will always look at the ‘What-ifs?’ when you lose, but we still batted for more than 130 overs in the final innings, when there was a bit of spin and reverse swing. You can’t bat perfectly every time you play, you are going to make mistakes and Test cricket is all about pushing mentally until one team breaks. England were probably a bit better than us overall, but we played real fighting cricket and it’s important for South African teams to always show that fight,” Du Plessis said.

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