Faf frank over the Proteas’ failures and the Wanderers pitch

Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis admitted that him and his troops had no-one (and nothing) else but themselves to blame for missing out on a Test series whitewash against India.

South Africa lost the final battle at the Wanderers by 63 runs after a dramatic batting collapse on the fourth day.

But that didn’t mean Du Plessis didn’t talk about the controversial pitch, which almost saw the Test being abandoned.

Here’s what he had to say.

Are you nervous about the Wanderers receiving a sanction from the International Cricket Council?

Look I think because we finished the game, I don’t think that will happen. I understand the demerit points if the game was called off, or if it was an absolute stinker that lasted two days, then your demerit points would get a bit more. So I assume that even if this pitch was rated poorly, you’d still be able to come back here for Test cricket.

Was the pitch dangerous?

I don’t think so day one and two. The only time I got a little bit concerned was when Dean (Elgar) got hit in the face. That’s when I got a little bit concerned for player safety. Even in the Indian innings, there was quite a few guys that got hit on the finger quite regularly. I think if you count the number of times guys got hit, it was much more than usual. You know excessive sideways movement is tough but not dangerous. As soon as guys started getting hit from a length, that’s when we thought it might be dangerous. But surprisingly the pitch played fine again (on Saturday, day four). So we had the opportunity to chase down the game and we didn’t do that.

What did you ask for from this pitch?

I’ve said it so many times to the press right through the series. We never asked for something excessive. We never asked for extra grass. All we asked for was a typical South African wicket that has pace and bounce. Although this wicket had pace and bounce, it was obviously a lot more. So pretty disappointed with that. It’s disappointing to see that once again we’re not getting it right. I don’t know how to answer it or how to change it, but it obviously needs to improve. 

Since you’ve become captain, has there been an emphasis on you requesting certain kind of wickets more?

Yes. Just of the opinion that you must try and get – whether it’s one percent or five percent or ten percent – whatever you can you must try and get an advantage against opposition that’s quality. When we go to India, we certainly don’t play on flat, green tracks. And I assume that there would be a similar conversation happening there. For me it’s just making sure that there’s a conversation happening with the management of our team and also the groundsman about the conditions that would be ideal for a Test series. This Test series we didn’t get that, and I can’t give you the reason for that.

Are these requests putting pressure on groundsmen and leading to pitch like this?

That might be. But I’m in an environment where I have to score runs and perform, so it’s the same. If there is an option to get a pitch in the way that we want to, you would hope that the experience would be there to get the pitches right.

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