Don’t savage Faf yet … he had a lot of external issues to deal with

South African cricket is in a precarious place at the moment, with much of the blame belonging to the board of Cricket South Africa (CSA), but the on-field issues also cannot be ignored.

Chief among these is the future of the captain, Faf du Plessis.

The skipper batted with admirable determination for two hours and 20 minutes in the second innings of the final Test against England, but was it enough for him to deserve a place in the team for the next Test, against the West Indies in Port-of-Spain starting on 23 July?

Du Plessis now averages just 20.92 in seven Tests this summer, but it needs to be stated that he averaged 40 overall last year and is the current SA Men’s Cricketer-of-the-Year.

There is no doubt that over the last couple of years, an unreasonable load has been placed on Du Plessis’ shoulders, mostly due to the failure of CSA to actually properly run cricket as a high performance venture.

Instead of just having to focus on matters on the field, Du Plessis has had to deal with issues such as the breakdown in relations between the board and the players’ association, the potential restructuring of the domestic game and what this means for the players, trying to get Proteas released from IPL duty before the World Cup, the shameful way CSA handled their negotiations with former coach
Ottis Gibson, and even matters as weighty as transformation and racism in the game.

It is clear that Du Plessis has stayed on as captain largely due to a sense of duty.

As captain, he did not want to create the impression that he was leaving a sinking ship and he wanted to ensure there was at least some continuity and leadership in a clear and difficult time of transition with so many key players having left the system.

That the 35-year-old has been a top-class batsman and captain for South Africa should not be lost in the current furore.

But with a decision already made to move away from him being skipper in ODI cricket, a call also needs to be made on his future in Test cricket.

Acting Director of Cricket Graeme Smith has already indicated that he will be having an earnest conversation with Du Plessis in the next couple of weeks.

If it were my decision whether he continues in the Test team, I would ask Faf a simple question, which would greatly influence my call: “Are you still enjoying your cricket, Faf?”

I would hope to receive a reply in the affirmative because the Proteas are actually in a pickle when it comes to the Test team and the captaincy.

Everyone needs a cooling down period in the aftermath of the dismal English series and hopefully then a couple of key considerations will become clear.

Firstly, although Du Plessis has lost the hot form he enjoyed last summer, a Proteas batting lineup lacking confidence and experience in key areas still needs his presence in the middle-order.

Secondly, at the moment there is probably no better option for the captaincy of the Test team.

While De Kock has a wonderful cricketing brain and will bring a fresh strategic approach (some of Du Plessis’ recent tactics have been bizarre), unfortunately there are big question marks over how he would handle all the off-field duties that come with being captain.

The 27-year-old basically froze when asked about what the longterm captaincy situation is following his appointment as ODI skipper.

To be fair to De Kock, CSA did not initially explain the move very well, but he is going to have to handle far tougher questions on matters such as transformation and global cricket politics.

It is surely too much of a burden to also be South Africa’s best batsman, keeping wicket and being captain in Test cricket as well and De Kock has certainly given the impression that giving up the gloves and becoming an outfielder would be like torture for him.

There are few other captaincy options.

Both Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram have not racked up sufficient runs to be sure of their places in the Test side and
Rassie van der Dussen does not need the extra burden having just played his first Test series.

Racking one’s brains, the only other possible captaincy option is Dean Elgar.

The gritty opening batsman is the archetypal team man, he probably wears his Proteas cap to bed during Tests and spoons with his bat.

If Du Plessis’ Test career is really over, then Elgar could be the best stop-gap option to take the reins.

Ken Borland is The Citizen’s chief cricket writer.

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