No fuss: Faf du Plessis is not fazed by the Australian verbal onslaught.
“Hate?” Australia’s Mitchell Johnson repeated when asked whether it was an appropriate word for the relationship that exists between the Australian and South African cricket teams in the build-up to their five-match one-day international series that begins at the Waca ground today.
“I don’t know,” he said, laughing, before considering his answer. The word “no” obviously didn’t feature prominently in his musings.
“From my point of view, there’s a lot of competition going on. Both teams don’t like to lose and that’s where you see the fire in the game,” Johnson said.
“They’ve got some of the best players in the world in their team and we’ve got a couple ourselves, and we’re really competitively natured, so you see that fire in the belly and that hard contest. But a lot of the guys will talk after the game and there are guys who play IPL [Indian Premier League] together, so I think ‘hate’ is a pretty strong word.”
Friction
Nonetheless, the friction between the teams featured strongly all week ahead of the first game, with players from both teams choosing either to admit to the tension or attempt to play it down.
The most frequently highlighted personal animosity was that between the Australian captain, Michael Clarke, and Dale Steyn, who has refused to accept the former’s apology for the verbal “spray” he gave Steyn during the tense final stages of the Cape Town Test match last year.
“Everyone’s talking about this ‘average’ relationship between the two sides and it stems from Steyn, their spearhead, and our captain, who’s our spearhead,” said former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy.
“It will be interesting to watch and see how that develops. South Africa will probably play with a real gang mentality with [Morné] Morkel and [Vernon] Philander in support of Steyn.”
Philander was not one of those handing out bouquets of reconciliation and pretending that the competitive edginess existed on only one side of the boundary rope.
“There’s always going to be rivalry between the top teams in the world, but we must not lose focus on what we have come here to do,” he said. “Sometimes it brings the best out of you, but it can also go the other way and be a distraction. Hopefully we can keep calm and not lose our direction.”
Hot-headed and emotional Proteas are, of course, exactly what Clarke and his sledger-in-chief, David Warner, want to see. A frequent and popular target for his salt-infused barbs is Faf du Plessis – and it is no coincidence that he has also been one of the most successful batsmen against the Australian attack. Whereas others may flinch, Du Plessis thrives on the abuse. No wonder he says it is being overplayed in the media.
Just another team
“Definitely. It’s nice and easy for the newspapers to write that there’s a lot going on off the field and that things are being said on it, but Australia are just another team to us and their brand of cricket isn’t too different from ours,” Du Plessis said. “One or two players like a bit of sledging, but that’s part of the game and we are not having any sleepless nights over it.”
On the contrary: Du Plessis should be sleeping beautifully at the prospect of five matches against Clarke’s team, given his record against them over the past two years. A Test-saving century on debut in Adelaide two years ago and a man of the series award in the triangular ODI series in Zimbabwe two months ago are fond memories. Even Johnson holds no fears.
“I enjoy facing Mitch – I’ve had some success against him, too. As a top-order batsman you want to face fast bowling; I don’t mind it at all,” Du Plessis said. As true as that may be, there may have been another reason for saying so two days before the opening game. Cricket Australia’s colossal media and public relations team will dutifully paste the quotes into the team’s scrapbook, making certain that Johnson will see them.
“So you think I’m easy, do you? Enjoy facing me, do you? We’ll bloody well see about that,” you can almost picture him saying. If Du Plessis was engaging in a little reverse psychological warfare, it would not be the first time and should come as no surprise.
Steyn, on the other hand, rarely bothers to play “games” and is comfortable with his heart on his sleeve. The team management’s decision to keep him away from the media – despite great demand – may have been a prudent exercise in damage limitation. Or it could be captain AB de Villiers’s way of ensuring that he does all his meaningful talking with the ball, and with a maximum head of steam.
Johnson may have suspected the same thing, having been treated in the same way by his own captain during the Ashes campaigns. Given his straight talking before this series, it was hard not to interpret his words about Steyn as an attempted pacifier:
“Going head to head with him is very exciting … both of us can bowl into the high 140s [km/h]. He’s a world-class bowler and he’s been the number one bowler in the world for a long time. He should do well in these conditions; they are very similar to back home for him. I’m looking forward to the contest and I’m sure he’s looking forward to getting out there on these fast wickets,” said Johnson.
ODI cricket outside the World Cup and Champions Trophy has become largely moribund. This series is one of the delightful exceptions.