'Absolute gold' – Faf du Plessis on inputs from Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher

The calendar year 2019 will be one South Africa will want to forget for the most part, especially when reflecting on their performances in the longest format. At the start of the year, they suffered a 2-0 clean sweep at the hands of an unfancied Sri Lankan side, despite having home advantage. They then went on to get brushed aside 3-0 in India as their ICC World Test Championship got off to the worst possible start.

Despite that, South Africa captain du Plessis sounded happy and excited ahead of their final match of the year owing to the recent appointments of legends Kallis (batting consultant) and Boucher (head coach) in coaching roles. He said the inputs the players were receiving from them has been 'absolute gold'.

"The last two days have been exceptional in terms of hearing the conversations that's taking place between us, talking in a batting group with Boucher and Kallis," du Plessis said on Friday, 20 December. "It's unbelievable conversations that haven't happened for a while and the reason why it hasn't happened is because we didn't have experience in our team, especially in the India series. Post the India tour we needed experience.

"The last two days have been hugely positive for me to see that, even though we are not getting the time in the middle, we are getting very specific practice. Jacques Kallis is talking to batters about how they are batting, what they're looking for, what is a bowler trying to do, how they are putting together their first 20 balls - those things are absolute gold for young players to grow and even for myself. It's been unbelievable just talking to people like that. Their cricket brains are exceptional. You just feed off it the whole time."

It's not just the coaching setup that has been bolstered by the presence of ex-South Africa greats; Graeme Smith, the world's most successful Test captain, had been appointed as the board's Director of Cricket a couple of weeks ago. The presence of such hugely successful Test cricketers in the management has boosted the optimism both in and around the team, according to du Plessis.

"Where we are as cricketers in South Africa is the most optimistic we have been in a while," du Plessis said. "There were a lot of challenges the last six months. We hadn't played our best cricket as a team but there had been a lot of stuff happening off the field.

"For me, that's the most promising thing where we are right now. We are not as prepared as we would have liked to be as a Test team but I think for now, what's more important is the things that have changed in the last two weeks. Cricketers in SA and the public have got a lot of optimism about the team. It was really important that we focused on getting the right people in the right places and I feel that has happened. I feel we have got a very good coaching and management staff right now."

Riding on the new-found positivity, the team will look to give themselves a memorable end to an otherwise forgettable Test year when they take on England in the first of four games in Centurion.