CAPE TOWN: South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has warned his team against complacency as they take a 1-0 series lead into the second Test of a four-match series against England, from whom he expects a backlash at Newlands on Friday.
The 107-run victory in the first Test in Pretoria on Sunday arrested a run of five successive Test defeats for South Africa but any thoughts that the players might have about being back on course must be dispelled, he said on Thursday.
“We haven’t really achieved anything as a test team; we’ve just won one test match,” Du Plessis told a pre-Test press conference.
“There is a lot that still needs to happen for us to go where we want to go as a Test team. For me it’s about understanding as a team that the standards need to go up a little bit.
“We were fortunate that we could get away a win in Pretoria but we understand that Test cricket against England is not always going to go our way,” he continued.
“If you take your foot off the gas and complacency creeps in, well go back to playing just ordinary Test cricket. This is the message that Bouch [coach Mark Boucher] and I have been trying to drive home over the last days, and well keep driving it,” the South African skipper remarked.
The 29-year-old conceded that potentially losing Archer would be a major blow to England, seeking to get themselves back into the series at a venue where South Africa have rarely lost.
Du Plessis confirmed that batsman Temba Bavuma was fit again but would not get back his No. 5 slot in the team as Rassie van der Dussen will be given more opportunity to prove his worth after scoring a 50 on debut last week.
Bavumas exclusion means that South Africa are dispensing with their racial quota for team selection where every team should have at least two black Africans and four others from the country’s mixed-race and Indian communities.
South Africa fell short of that target in Pretoria and will do so again in the second Test but Du Plessis looked to downplay a potential controversy.
“We don’t see colour and its important that people understand that. Opportunity is very important for any colour and it’s important to be fair to every player to give them a chance.”
Temba will be the first to acknowledge that he got a really good opportunity and that no fingers can be pointed.
Bavuma, 29, has had no half-centuries in his last 12 Test innings with his batting average dipping now to 39.24 in 39 Test matches.
Meanwhile, England captain Joe Root said results of a scan on paceman Jofra Archer’s sore elbow will determine whether he will be fit to play in the second Test against South Africa.
Archer pulled up with the injury in practice on Wednesday and was awaiting the results of the scan before England’s final practice on Thursday.
“We are still waiting to hear back, results-wise, about his scan so we should know further today and then we’ll have to play it by ear,” Root told a news conference.
“It was quite disappointing to see him pull up like that and now we’ll just have to make another late call.”
Archer batted and fielded with the rest of the team on Wednesday but then after a few balls pulled out of bowling in the nets.
“If you look at his short career, he’s made impacts with big moments in big Test matches so, of course, it will be a big loss if he is not fit to play but it creates another opportunity for someone else,” Root said.
It could prove a reprieve for England’s record wicket-taker James Anderson, whose tepid performance in Pretoria suggested he might be sacrificed for a spinner on what is expected to be a docile Newlands wicket.
But England were still some way off a final selection, Root added.
“Everything is still on the table as it stands. We’ll make a decision on the surface when we’ve had a closer look at it, maybe even tomorrow morning,” he said. “With not knowing exactly how Jofra is, it might change the way we balance the side up.”
