‘Nice to see du Plessis soldier on’ – Dean Elgar
Dean Elgar, the South Africa opening batsman, said a blow to the finger while batting in the fourth Test against Australia in Johannesburg made Faf du Plessis ‘hungrier’ to stay in the middle and ‘fight through the pain’, which eventually helped him bring up his eighth Test century.
Du Plessis, 34, fractured his right index finger during the one-day international series against India in February this year. He has been hit twice in the same area while batting in the series against Australia, most recently on Monday, the fourth day of the Test, but carried on batting to score 120.
“That would have motivated him more, made him hungrier to stay out there and fight through the pain. That's his character when he's batting,” said Elgar, who scored 81 in the South Africa second innings to help set Australia a victory target of 612. “It was not nice for him to get hit on that finger twice. Once you've hurt something, you seem to keep hurting it if you don't have time off from the game. It was nice to see him soldier on, that's what leaders do and I never expected him to do anything else.”
Prior to the innings, du Plessis had a lean trot in the series, with scores of 15, 4, 9, 2*, 5, 20 and 0.
“Test cricket is such a ruthless environment that when you are out of form it can chip away at you and it can put you in a dark place. But you are only ever one knock from being back in form, that's the funny thing about professional cricket. He showed a lot of toughness and grit. He's the happiest out of anyone in our change room,” said Elgar of his captain.
Elgar’s knock from the top of the order was equally crucial as South Africa appeared to bat on for longer than they might have had Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada been completely fit.
“With so much time left in the game, I knew that was ultimately my job to try and anchor the innings,” he said. “I think it was important for someone to drive it home by spending some time at the crease – it comes down to trying to nail the basics of batting and just trying to be hungry out there and a lot of discipline with regards to defence.”
Going into the final day, Australia were still 524 runs behind with seven wickets in hand.
Joe Burns, who scored 42 in the second innings after flying in along with Matt Renshaw and Glenn Maxwell following the suspensions of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, said it was difficult to get back into action mode so suddenly.
“It was a whirlwind. I came off the field after the (Sheffield) Shield final, flew out that night. Got here the Wednesday night, playing Friday morning,” he pointed out. “Some people probably say it's a poor preparation, but it's probably not as bad as what you think.
“It's been tough at times with the jetlag, but you keep reminding yourself that you're playing cricket for Australia. If you're a bit tired out on the field, you just deal with it.”