OPINION: Faf du Plessis’ legacy ought not to be as complicated as his tenure. He was a captain in the good times and the bad. He only ever gave his all, writes Clinton van der Berg. Proteas ProteaFire IOLSport
Faf du Plessis wants to perform well for the Proteas as a batsman at the T20 World Cup later this year. Picture: Mike Hutchings/ReutersFaf du Plessis struggled for runs in the recent Test series against England. Picture: Siphiwe Sibeko/ReutersSiya Kolisi takes a selfie with Lewis Hamilton at the Laureus World Sports Awards in Berlin.It used to be said that the Springbok captaincy was the hardest job in South African sport.
In South Africa, being team captain is never purely about strategy, fronting up and setting the tone. You must represent a potpourri of languages and cultures, cope with the relentless politics and, inevitably, be a buffer between the squad and the suits. When all that is done, you can think about your game.
This is the world that Du Plessis fell into when he took charge eight years ago. He was asked to take over and did so out of a sense of duty, something that has defined his career from the start. He famously won important series and if he never quite had the technical elegance or élan of some of his more celebrated contemporaries, he was stoic and gritty; qualities admired by South Africans.
Du Plessis had the misfortune to take over when the team was in transition, with Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith leaving massive voids and AB de Villiers still finding his place in the realm.
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