Cape Town - South Africa have an emergency stop-gap plan should Test captain Faf du Plessis be handed a suspension pending his appeal hearing on December 19, says national convenor of selectors Linda Zondi.
The International Cricket Council fined Du Plessis his entire match fee and awarded him three demerit points after footage emerged from the second Test against Australia in Hobart of the South African skipper applying saliva to the ball with a mint in his mouth.
Michael Beloff will hear the appeal as the Judicial Commissioner in Dubai with Du Plessis to join in via teleconference. There is the risk that Du Plessis could be banned for one game and therefore miss the series opener against the Sri Lanka on Boxing Day in Port Elizabeth.
With this cloud hanging over the Proteas skipper heading into the series, there has been great suspicion about who would lead the side should Du Plessis be ruled as no official vice-captain was named in the 13-man squad on Wednesday.
“At the moment there needs to be greater discussion around the appointment of a vice-captain as that needs to be a long term position. The board has decided to look into it in January after greater planning has been done around it,” Zondi told Independent Media on Wednesday.
“We do have a plan should Faf not be available. It will purely be a once-off situation, with a stand-in just for the one Test and with no obligations that the individual would be the long term vice-captain.”
Zondi and his panel have handed uncapped Knights batsman Theunis de Bruyn his first Test call up for the series against the islanders after AB de Villiers and Rilee Rossouw were both ruled out through injury. Stiaan van Zyl, who played in the last home Test against New Zealand, was ineligible for selection due to signing a three-year Kolpak deal with Sussex recently.
Along with Van Zyl, Highveld Lions fast bowler Hardus Viljoen also joined the Kolpak ranks with others such as Warriors duo Colin Ingram and Simon Harmer. Does this increasing trend for players in the prime of their players careers heading abroad in conjunction with the strength of the pound worry Zondi?
“Yes, of course, we are perturbed when talented cricketers leave our shores but we are content they are all players that we have given opportunities to all of them at the highest level,” Zondi said.
“We don’t want to lose players at any stage but the Rand cannot compete with the foreign currencies and the amounts players are able to earn playing abroad. We will continue to work on our systems to ensure we produce high-quality players that are capable of playing and performing at the highest level.”