Last six months has drained a lot of energy from me, admits Faf du Plessis

The Proteas have had a dismal year in cricket, starting from the poor World Cup campaign in England, followed by a hammering at the hands of India away from home. The crisis came to the forefront when five journalists were banned three weeks ago, leading to major sponsors putting pressure on Cricket South Africa (CSA). Controversies involving officials culminated in demands for the board of Cricket South Africa to resign and suspension of the chief executive. And the onus was on the skipper to try and keep the players separate from off-field issues, which meant he personally had to get involved. 

“The last six months have taken a lot more energy from me as a leader than I would normally require. But it is something I’ve thought was important and I couldn’t not put energy into all the different areas that needed attention,” Du Plessis told AFP.

“There were a lot of challenges. When things started unfolding, the way I saw it was that things needed to get real bad before it got better, so I’m happy that process unfolded to where we are today,” he said. 

However, the board has responded with major changes off-field, including the appointment of former captain Graeme Smith as interim director of cricket, followed by the appointment of Test legends Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis as head coach and batting consultant. Though the developments have led to an optimistic environment, the team now have minimal time to adjust to the new leadership ahead of the four-match Test series against England starting on December 26.

“We aren’t as prepared as we would have liked to be as a Test team but what is more important is the things that have changed in the last two weeks. Cricketers in South Africa and also the public have got a lot of optimism about the team. Obviously we’ll always get judged on our performances and only time will tell but for me it is really, really important that we focused on getting the right people in the right places,” he said.

“The biggest thing that has unfolded is the information we share. We are very inexperienced as a team in some departments. The best way to tackle that head-on is to talk to guys who have been there and done it. The last two days have been exceptional in terms of just hearing the conversations that have taken place,” Du Plessis added.