“You are trying to impress your batting coach because he’s Jacques Kallis, the best batsman that ever lived.” - Faf du Plessis’ inner kid comes out.
TELFORD VICE in Cape Town
STRUGGLING football teams who sack their managers often show significant improvement immediately, not least because they no longer have to see and hear the embodiment of their failures. Faf du Plessis no doubt hopes something similar happens on an exponential scale for South Africa in the first of four men’s Tests against England in Centurion on Thursday.
Not only have South Africa changed coaches since their lacklustre World Cup, where they crashed out in the first round, and their shambolic series in India in October, when they played ever more poorly and deservedly lost 3-0, they also have new batting and bowling consultants. A fresh Cricket South Africa (CSA) chief executive and director of cricket have taken office, albeit in acting capacities. Now, Mark Boucher heads a coaching staff featuring Jacques Kallis and Charl Langeveldt, with Jacques Faul and Graeme Smith beyond the boundary. And all in the space of a week.
It adds up to a bright new day for a team who have been walking for too long in the valley of the shadow of CSA’s diabolical idea of how to run the game. Sponsors are still running away, staff are still suspended, money is still gushing out of the game, and there’s still the matter of a high court case pitting the players against the suits over a domestic restructure plan to sort out. But, suddenly, trust is all around.
“This is the most optimistic we have been in a while,” Du Plessis told reporters at South Africa’s training camp in Centurion on Friday. “There were a lot of challenges in the last six months. Yes, we haven’t played our best cricket but there has been a lot of stuff happening off the field. We are not as prepared as we would have liked to be but for now what’s more important is the things that have changed in the last two weeks.
“Cricketers and the public have got a lot of optimism about the team. We will obviously get judged on our performances and only time will tell, but it’s really important where we are as a team and also for cricket in South Africa — that we focus on getting the right people in the right places. I feel that has happened. I feel we have got a very good coaching and management staff right now, which is something I have spoken about before.”
Du Plessis spared a thought for Enoch Nkwe, South Africa’s interim team director in India, who has since been made Boucher’s assistant: “It was very tough on Enoch to go on that tour and almost be judged. Even if you are the best coach you will struggle to go to India and do well. What’s exciting is how it has unfolded. We are keeping Enoch and what he has done and what he brings to the team but we are also adding the experience.”
South Africa’s players are not unaccustomed to attempts at damaging interference by their administrators, so a barrier between the team and the rest of the game has built over the years. This has had positive and negative consequences, both at a group as well as an individual level. But the mental buffer, a firebreak of sorts, has served the team well while the game has been ablaze all around them.
“It’s really very strong, the culture in the team,” Du Plessis said. “If you look at all the stuff that’s been happening, you haven’t seen any player issues. We take our performances on the chin and [the culture has] remained strong throughout the mess we have had. Now, with all the stuff in place, I can trust the system, trust the leadership groups and just enjoy playing cricket. That’s also important. Maybe I did overburden myself with all the stuff that was happening but I felt it was required of me and now I have felt the difference. The conversations I had with Jacques Faul, Graeme Smith, Kallis, Boucher, even Enoch the last while have been very positive. It’s very motivating for me to see that we are definitely going in the right direction.”
Kallis and Boucher are South Africa’s most capped Test players with 165 and 146 appearances. The entire XI had 251 between them going to the third Test in Ranchi. “We are very inexperienced in some departments and the best way to tackle that head-on is to talk to guys who have been there and done it,” Du Plessis, who has played 61 Tests, said. “The last two days have been exceptional in terms of us talking in a batting group with Boucher and Kallis. They have been unbelievable conversations that haven’t happened for a while because we did not have experience in our team. The last two days have been hugely positive for me to see that, even though we are not getting the time in the middle, we are getting very specific practice — talking to batters about how you are batting, what you’re looking for, what is a bowler trying to do, how are you putting together your first 20 balls. Those things are absolute gold for young players to grow and even for myself. Their cricket brains are exceptional. You just feed off it the whole time.”
Kallis is one of cricket’s most taciturn figures. Boucher is among the most overtly self-confident players yet to take the field. And yet they have been friends for years. How had their contrasting chemistry affected the team? “[Kallis] has no ego; he is there just to help,” Du Plessis said. “He just tries to add value. What’s been really good for [Boucher, who came to the team after coaching the Titans since August 2016] is seeing what it is like on the other side, because coaching and playing are two different roles. You can see his development from a personality point of view. He understands both now. He also understands that it’s give and take. That only comes when you are mature enough to understand what a leadership group looks like and are secure in your own position. If you are insecure then you are going to feel like you need to talk all the time because there is another big voice in the team, but I don’t feel like that at all.”
Not that Du Plessis was immune to the effects of being in Kallis’ orbit: “You are trying to impress your batting coach because he’s Jacques Kallis. You are trying to impress him all the time because he is the best batsman that ever lived. That’s already a step in the right direction. Then, you start having conversations and you start preparing better because there is guidance. Through that you get confidence because you feel your game is in a better place.”
South Africa are undoubtedly in a better place than they have been in months, even years. But it will seem a lot like the same old place if they don’t put all that positivity into practice on the field. The only way, then, is up.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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