WATCH: Proteas hope sensational grab inspires Faf
The national skipper has cut a bit of a glum figure, but coach Mark Boucher and his teammates warn they and him are ready to fight.
Beuran Hendricks of South Africa celebrates with Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock after dismissing Joe Root of England during Day Three of the Fourth Test at the Wanderers between England and South Africa on January 26, 2020 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images)
Faf du Plessis has cast a brooding, not particularly happy looking figure the longer the series against England has gone on, but Proteas coach Mark Boucher said on Sunday evening that hopefully the sensational catch the captain took to end the England second innings will have lifted his spirits sufficiently for a match-defining performance with the bat.
Du Plessis dived full-length at a fly-slip to snaffle a rocketing edge from opposite number Joe Root, giving left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks a five-wicket haul on debut, and a broad smile was finally on his face as he lifted himself off the ground.
The captain has been under immense pressure amidst all the off-field turmoil surrounding South African cricket, being drawn into a race war after the dropping of Temba Bavuma and his own struggles with the bat.
WICKET & STUMPS | 🏴 248
A thrilling day of test cricket comes to an end 🏏
339 runs scored
1⃣4️⃣ wickets taken
Two 5⃣ers: Wood & Hendricks respectively
QDK's 2⃣0⃣0⃣ dismissal milestone ✅
Both 🇿🇦& 🏴had us at the edge of our seats
Day 4 will be a CRACKER#SAvENG pic.twitter.com/4QfEWdnaI9
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) January 26, 2020
In this series, Du Plessis has scored just 116 runs in seven innings.
Now South Africa face the massive task of scoring a world record 466 to salvage a share of the series, or bat for two days just to draw the Test match.
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“Faf is under pressure from a weight-of-runs perspective as well, from captaincy, all that stuff. But the players back him in the dressingroom and we’ve chatted about that. It’s nice to see him take that catch at the end of the day, hopefully it will lift his spirits.
“He will go out there and fight. He understands that he is the leader and he wants to do well and lead from the front. Hopefully there is something big around the corner for Faf. The whole scene is set for him to come up with something special under pressure, score big runs and hopefully get us close to winning a Test match,” Boucher said.
Du Plessis brewed up something special six years ago at the same ground when he scored 134 in 395 minutes as South Africa fell just eight runs short of chasing down 458 against India, but saved the Test by losing only seven wickets in 136 overs.
On that occasion, he and his old schoolmate AB de Villiers, who stroked a much quicker 103, added 205 for the fifth wicket. But South Africa’s batting line-up included Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis back then.
Boucher acknowledged the magnitude of the task facing his team on Monday, but said it was important to filter out any negative thoughts.
“I don’t think there is any opportunity to second-guess yourself. If ever there’s a time to be nice and aggressive with our batting, this is the Test match. We just need to get off to a good start and allow ourselves to maybe put a bit of pressure on the bowling line-up. It’s two days to bat and I’d like to see us take it deep into the last day.
“If that’s the case, the English bowlers would have spent a lot of time on their feet and that’s maybe when we can throw that punch to try and win the game. If you look at the amount of time we’ve got in the game, we’ve got to look at going for a win, the run-rate is very gettable. It’s a lot of runs to chase down, it’s never been done before, but we’ve got to hold on to some sort of positivity. We will give it a go,” Boucher said.
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