C365 Player of the Week: Faf du Plessis

Faf, you can calm down now, you’ve made your point. You’re our Player of the Week, which was your motivation all along, we know.

When Faf du Plessis scored his maiden ODI ton, in the recent tri-series against Zimbabwe and Australia, we gave him an Honourable Mention and picked AB de Villiers to get the priceless gong that week instead, as he’d made more runs and won the game.

Then, Faf bagged another century a few days later, and again we looked past him, and gave this coveted award to India’s Ajinkya Rahane, because of… reasons. Google analytics, readership numbers, variety, non-Saffer bias, etc.

But the bloody-minded batsman only went and scored another 200 runs this past week, so now we have no choice. Faf, you can calm down now, you’ve made your point. You’re our Player of the Week, which was your motivation all along, we know.

Du Plessis went from having no one-day centuries in 50 matches, to bagging three (nearly four) in five games, shooting his format average up above 35. He could have had four tons in the series, the first player to ever do that, but alas.

In the final against the Aussies in Harare on Saturday, he looked well on track for that record, but was out for 96 with one run required. His batting partner, AB (obviously) tried to get him over the line, but Mitchell Johnson was a ‘shit bloke’ and took his wicket. Party pooper.

As such, Du Plessis finished the tri-series as the top run-getter, outscoring his closest rival, Aaron Finch, by more than 200 runs. He ended with an average of nearly 93, a strike rate of 98.51, and only one knock out of five below 96.

Honourable Mention goes to West Indies batsman Kraigg Brathwaite, who continually rocks the ridiculous name his parents lumped him with, but also scored a double century against Bangladesh. To be fair, the Tigers were without their good bowlers, but still, you have to score the runs.

Mini-mention also goes to Tigers debutant Taijul Islam, who took a five-fer in that game, in vain. He had the unenviable task of replacing Shakib-al-Hasan and Sohag Gazi, and prevailed, emerging unscathed without a ban for chucking or abusing fans. Win.

<b>Lindsay du Plessis</b>