Proteas face first task ahead of bumper home season

Faf du Plessis’s tenure as South Africa’s captain across all three formats comes to an anticipated start with the first Test match against Bangladesh starting at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Thursday.
The captain says the series is an opportunity for the Proteas to ‘start afresh’, as he takes full reign alongside coach, Ottis Gibson.
The Proteas will feature in a bumper home season this summer, with incoming tours against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, India and Australia headlining a spree of 23 International matches across the formats. For now, the challenge is Potchefstroom, which is geared up to play the perfect host for the Proteas in only the second Test match to be played at the venue.
“Grounds like this won’t usually get a lot of Test cricket because there are a lot of stadium venues,” he said to the media at Senwes Park on Wednesday. “ It is great for a small town like Potch to get a Test, hopefully the students will come and support us. It’s nice to take the game around the country, we don’t mind it.”
Multiply Titans captain, Aiden Markram, is set to become the 97th Test player to represent South Africa since re-admission when he partners with Dean Elgar at the top of the order. The 22-year-old has made remarkable strides at domestic level since leading South Africa U19 to World Cup glory in 2014, and currently averages 44.33 in 34 first-class matches with six hundreds and 11 fifties to his name.
“ For me it’s important that he doesn’t listen to everything that has been said about him,” Du Plessis said of the youngster. “ It’s important for him to focus on the fact that he is playing another game, walking out to play like he would for the Titans. There is no extra pressure on him, in fact I’ll try to take that away from him so that he can be comfortable and have the freedom to go out and play.”
One aspect Du Plessis and the rest of the batsmen will be looking to improve on from last season is the conversion of starts into big hundreds. Dean Elgar scored the only century during the series against England, a glaring let down on a key performance area that has underpinned past batting success.
ALSO READ: CSA announce summer fixtures
“ As a batting unit we haven’t scored the amount of runs that we would have liked,” he admitted. “ The conditions were really tough in England, speaking to someone like Alastair Cook who said those were the toughest conditions he has played in in England and he has played a few matches there.
“ These are home conditions, this is where we need to step up and score some runs on the board,” he added. “ It looks like a good batting wicket out there and all of the guys are in good touch. It helped everyone to go and play in the Sunfoil Series matches this weekend, it has been a while since everyone was available to do that. There was a lot of benefit for the batting unit, everyone scored hundreds and scored big runs, that will stand us in good stead for these two Test matches.”
Latest
-
News
Kumar Sangakkara confirms possible IPL clash for England stars
Stokes, Archer and Buttler could miss Test duty to stay with Rajasthan Royals.
-
News
Mark Wood: England seamers are thinking pink ahead of day/night Test
England’s seam attack have seen the ball swing and bounce during net sessions in Ahmedabad.
-
News
Tash Farrant: ECB pro deal gave me fresh lease of life
The left-armer is making her international comeback in New Zealand.
-
News
When Virat Kohli felt like the ‘loneliest guy in the world’
India captain Virat Kohli has shed some light on a time in his career where he felt like the “loneliest guy in the world”.
-
News
Jonny Bairstow says IPL stints can improve England players
In years gone by the IPL presented a major bone of contention for players like Kevin Pietersen and the ECB.
-
News
England all-rounder Moeen Ali joins Chennai Super Kings in 2021 IPL auction
Moeen found himself at the centre of a battle for his services.
-
News
Glenn Maxwell joins his dream team after IPL auction bidding war
Glenn Maxwell will get to share a dressing room with his idol AB de Villiers when the 2021 IPL gets underway.
-
News
India stars make rankings charge after mammoth win
India’s second Test heroes have been rewarded with progress in the latest ICC Test rankings.
-
News
Chris Silverwood apologises over way Moeen Ali’s departure was communicated
It has been established that Moeen is merely taking his own allocated break period.
-
News
‘The decision was ours’ – Chris Silverwood clarifies reason for Moeen Ali exit
Captain Joe Root said in a post-match press conference on Tuesday that the all-rounder had “chosen” to leave the tour of India.