SRI LANKA TOUR OF SOUTH AFRICA, 2016-17
Rabada is the perfect bowler for a captain: Du Plessis
by Cricbuzz Staff •
Last updated on Thu, 05 Jan, 2017, 11:55 PM
Kagiso Rabada bagged his second ten-wicket haul to bowl South Africa to a facile win
Ever since their return to international cricket in 1991, South Africa have hardly faced a dearth of a good pacers. Despite losing out players to injury and the Kolpak deals, they have somehow always had a good reserve of fast bowlers. Among their latest sensations is the 21-year old Kagiso Rabada. The Lions pacer yet again stood out as Sri Lanka folded up for 224 in their second innings to hand the hosts a 282-run win in Newlands, Cape Town on Thursday (January 5).
"It was an amazing bowling performance from 'KG'," Faf du Plessis, South Africa skipper, said after Rabada picked up 10 for 92 to star in his team's series-clinching win over Sri Lanka. "Even when he's bowling not so well, as a captain I'm really happy to have him in my team. He just tries very hard and he's never got any dramas.
"Basically he's the perfect bowler for a captain because, exactly what I tell him to do or ask him to do, he does that. If I want him to bowl a thousand short balls in a row he'll do it. That's kind of bowler he is and that works well with me because I can work on a plan with him. He's an extreme talent for us and he's going to be very valuable for us in future."
With a hectic international schedule on paper, coupled with numerous Twenty20 leagues across the world that players feature in, fast bowlers have started breaking down far more frequently. Not surprisingly, many teams have started using their pacers judiciously and giving them adequate rest through a rotation policy.
For South Africa, Rabada is seen as the future and thus comes up the big question whether he will be rested for dead-rubber contests, like the third Test in Johannesburg. The South African skipper, however, isn't too worried about the young fast bowler's fitness, as for now, and says, "Only if there are injury concerns, if the medical staff feels he needs it.
"It's really important that we keep winning Test matches. I understand the importance of resting players and there is space for that. But I don't feel 'KG' is there yet. He's had a good break before this Test and every fast bowler needs to bowl, and as you saw in this Test match he was double the bowler he was in the previous match just because he started bowling again. He would be the first to say that as well and want to play the next Test, definitely."
While Rabada shined with four wickets in the first innings and six in the second, Kyle Abbott returned with none in what has turned out to be probably his last international appearance for South Africa. Abbott has signed a deal with County side Hampshire, becoming a Kolpak player. With Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel breaking down regularly, the pace attack is currently dependent on Rabada and Vernon Philander. Du Plessis feels there is a need to keep a young battery of pacers ready to take over the mantle.
"In Test cricket, you need experience. In the England series we didn't have enough experience in that bowling attack and we didn't bowl as well as we should have on a wicket that was very assisting to seam bowlers.
"For me it's about making sure we look at who are the next guys to fulfil that role and try to get them ready. With experience that we have in Vernon and 'KG' and hopefully Morne and Dale - if they don't miss too much - start bringing in guys to get them working with great bowlers, getting them ready for when their chance comes," he added.
After a sloppy show in the first innings, where barring opener Dean Elgar and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock, the rest of the batting order failed, South Africa made up for it with the ball and the second essay with the bat.
"The plan was to be a little bit better than we were in PE (Port Elizaveth), and we were. For an opening batsman to get a hundred on a wicket like that was great batting, and there was great bowling from our bowlers. From then we were in a dominant position. It was pretty much a perfect performance. Everything was planned and everything worked out perfectly.
"We felt that we could take it at lunch on day four in a perfect world and it worked out exactly like that. We were relentless. We didn't let Sri Lanka into the game once. Every time we stood up and that was the most pleasing thing for me as a captain," he said.
In recent years, the trend of home teams preparing conditions to favour them has come in for great criticism, a practice that has been there for as long as cricket has existed. Du Plessis, however, didn't hold back on praising the ground staff for preparing the kind of wickets he had asked for.
"That's something I'm really big on. If there's one or two percent I can add as a captain and making sure we get the conditions that we ask for then, definitely, I'm going to try and scream it from the top of my lungs to make sure we get it. There's been too many times that travelling teams come here and get the conditions that favour them. When you go overseas you don't get that.
"It's important to make sure you maximise the conditions you have. The groundsman can take a lot of credit. We asked for a wicket that took no spin and made for a good contest between bat and ball. And that was exactly what there was. Day one it was green and it was moving all around, but days three, four and five, if you batted you could apply yourself and get a big score. It was a fantastic wicket," du Plessis said.
© Cricbuzz
