Plenty for Du Plessis, Domingo to think about

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Faf du Plessis and Russell Domingo will have had more than 60 hours to think about what went wrong in their World T20 campaign by the time they ease their tired bodies off a plane at OR Tambo International this morning.

That’s how long their journey home will take following SA’s six-wicket loss to India in the semi-finals in Dhaka on Friday.

But crossing time zones and the equator and being marooned in the sensory deprivation of airport lounges will not make Du Plessis and Domingo change their minds about when and where AB de Villiers should bat in T20s - in the second half of the innings.

Nor are they likely to admit that JP Duminy and Albie Morkel had no place taking the new ball, regardless of the conditions, and neither that Aaron Phangiso merited an opportunity instead of spending the entire tournament - after the warm-up games - on the bench.

“We had the right team,” Du Plessis said after Friday’s loss, and he meant it. Others would not agree.

“I understand the management’s thinking about AB, but he is our best batsman and he should bat at No. 3 - we got it wrong,” Lions coach Geoff Toyana said yesterday.

“It’s baffling to me that JP and Albie should open the bowling. Dale Steyn is in good form: ask any of the Indian batsmen who they wouldn’t have wanted to face, and the answer would have been him.

“I was also surprised that Phangiso didn’t get a game. He could have made a difference.”

So, there is plenty to debate and time to do so before SA regroup to play three ODIs and two tests, the latter under a captain yet to be appointed, in Sri Lanka in July. Their next T20 engagement is against West Indies at home in January.

Happily, none of those discussions will be about disaster management, a result of SA merely losing and not suffering a meltdown at the WT20.

The new reality of SA cricket, then, is about manouvering the pieces of a puzzle reshaped by the retirements of Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith. Domingo will do most of that work, and be answerable for how decisions pan out.

The fact that, under him, SA did not choke at the WT20 as they have done at many tournaments, regardless of the stature of their coach, is another conversation that will be had.

Was Domingo instrumental in what could be seen as an improvement, or does that come down to the lack of pressure to compete on what was considered a comparatively weak SA side?

Or has the absence of giants like Kallis and Smith made other players accept more responsibility in all formats?

Although SA will not take the field as a team for the next three months - the performance of their players as individuals in the Indian Premier League will make for an interesting subplot to the wider story - a fascinating time awaits.