Despite being the central figure in a flare-up around AB de Villiers’ run-out that set a tense World Cup quarter-final alight in Dhaka a year earlier, Faf du Plessis arrived in Australia four years ago an unknown figure.
Outside of Pretoria, nobody really knew who he was. In fact, a seasoned columnist wrote ahead of the 2012 tour: “Graeme Smith’s No 1-ranked team comes without the usual bench strength... there is no specialist batsman in reserve.”
Anonymity allowed Du Plessis, who had yet to make his Test debut, to slip into hotels behind superstars like Smith, Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla without too much of a fuss. Selfies with Faf were not in demand from fans.
How things have changed with South Africa’s return Down Under. In 2016, Du Plessis is now the leader of the Proteas and a stalwart in the batting lineup.
Hotel staff at the Intercontinental Hotel in Adelaide would also not have forgotten him in a hurry. That was where an exhausted, but elated and bleary-eyed Du Plessis returned after completing one of the most extraordinary Test innings of all time in 2012.
He blunted the Australian attack for 466 minutes - that’s 14 minutes shy of eight hours - to save the second Test of that 2012 tour for the Proteas, and scoring a century in the process. Given that he had done this on debut, it is needless to say the celebrations carried on long into the night.
“I walked into the hotel and I had a massive smile on my face because I had such great memories, remembering that night after we saved the Test match, fantastic memories. That was the highlight of my career to date,” Du Plessis said upon arrival in the city of his famous Test rescue act.
“There was obviously the emotion of what went on in that match, but not just that. I remember drawing the match and moving on to the last one, where things completely changed for us as a team.
“Australia were dominant for the first two Tests and then moving into that last (one) we finally had an opportunity to be on top.”
Du Plessis has certainly been central to plenty of change in the Proteas camp of late. Just a few months ago, after an ODI implosion in the Caribbean which followed the worst season of Test cricket since readmission, player workloads were being bemoaned.
Under Du Plessis’ leadership, South Africa turned the corner in their Test whites with a series victory over New Zealand, who were ranked higher than the Proteas at the time, and inflicted a first-ever 5-0 whitewash of the Australians in 50-overs cricket.
He has also told people to ‘relax’ in relation to transformation targets and that ‘there is enough talent, no matter what colour you are’, and that South Africa will remain “a force to be reckoned with”.
That type of honesty in the dressing-room from their leader has allowed South African cricket to plot a way forward and head into the coming three-Test series in Australia confident in the abilities of the players they have at their disposal, and not trying to rush De Villiers back from injury.
“We had an exceptional (ODI) series. A lot’s been said about the Australian team, but I felt we played consistently good cricket, and we take a lot of confidence from that,” Du Plessis said.
“We by no means think we’ll rock up here in Australia and it’ll be easy. It never is. Australia in Australia is as hard as the Indian team in India.
“They’re an extremely competitive team and we’ll have to play good cricket to compete with them, but the performances we had in South Africa do bring us here a little bit more confident.”
However, Du Plessis doesn't think De Villiers will be back in time for the third Test - a day-night affair in Adelaide. “He’s just had an operation. We’re not expecting it.
“He wants to play. It’s pink-ball Test cricket, and most of us in the team are not young pups anymore. If it happens - great. If it doesn’t, we’ve got some guys who are capable of putting in good performances.
After the initial hesitation over the merits of facing the Baggy Greens in a day-night Test, there is certainly a case of pink-ball fever permeating the Proteas squad right now.
It’s almost as if the novelty of playing in South Africa’s first Test under floodlights has awoken a curiosity in the players, including Du Plessis.
“I haven’t faced or thrown the pink ball around so it’s all pretty new to me. It will be nice to see how it plays,” he said.
“I know some of the guys have pink balls in their kit, especially the bowlers.
“We’ve asked around a little bit and read the stuff other teams have been saying about the pink ball. I’ve got no expectations of it. I’m going in without any experience of it at all.”
At least Du Plessis will have an opportunity to assess the pink ball in two floodlit warm-up matches prior to the Adelaide Test, which starts on November 24.
The Proteas face a youthful Cricket Australia XI at the city’s Test venue over the weekend, with another day-night fixture scheduled against a Victoria state side in Melbourne on November 19.
Cape Times