Reliving Faf du Plessis' blockathon against Australia on his birthday
The pandemic era of cricket has been favorable to cricketers who made their international Test debuts. Not only has there been a disproportionately large number of Test debutants (46), but a lot of them have been influential for their team’s fortunes from the very beginning.
From a lionhearted effort by Zimbabwean opener Takudzwanashe Kaitano against Bangladesh to West Indies batsman Kyle Mayer’s double hundred in the fourth innings to chase down 395 versus Bangladesh. From Devon Conway’s debut century at Lord's to Washington Sundar’s vital 62-run knock in the historic Gabba Test. Or the likes of Praveen Jayawickrama, Nauman Ali and Axar Patel having batsmen in all sorts of trouble with their spin. 2020-2021 has been kind to debutants in the longest format.
Over eight years prior, in the Australian summer of 2012, another debutant was thrown into the deep end to face music from the Aussie attack comprising Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Lyon.
Faf du Plessis had a Test debut to remember
Having managed to draw the first Test, South Africa replaced an injured JP Duminy with debutant Faf du Plessis. The right-hander had a reputation for being a rugged batsman, someone who could play in the lower middle-order, arrest a slide or two and put a hefty price on his wicket.
All these attributes were put right to the test in the very first Test he played. Australia scored a hefty 550 in their first innings thanks to Michael Clarke's rapid double and centuries from David Warner and Mike Hussey. South Africa were off to a fantastic start as well, with Graeme Smith scoring a fine hundred.
Faf du Plessis walked in to bat at a rather comfortable score of 233-4. However, within the next 17 runs, South Africa saw the backs of AB de Villiers, Dale Steyn and Rory Kleinveldt as they slipped to 250-7.
Du Plessis now just had an injured Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir for company, but he took the Proteas' score to 388 nevertheless. He batted 159 balls for his 78 and was the last man out. South Africa avoided a follow-on thanks to the newbie, who proved himself to be an apt replacement for Duminy. However, the best was yet to come from Du Plessis.
Australia batted again and put up 267 more runs on the board, setting South Africa a target of 430 runs in a day-and-a-half. The visitors got off to the worst possible start as Hilfenhaus snuffed out Smith for a duck in the first over. There was a miserable collapse as Faf du Plessis walked in to bat with the score at 45-4 in 21 overs. He had De Villiers for company.
But Du Plessis didn’t budge for 127 overs and 466 minutes. De Villiers was the perfect foil for Du Plessis' resoluteness as he battled on for 220 balls for just 33 runs. The two blocked out the rest of Day 4 and some more as they took the score to 134-5 for in 89 overs before De Villiers fell to a spirited Peter Siddle.
With close to two more sessions still to go, Du Plessis kept his blockathon going as he became the fourth South African batsman to score a century on Test debut. By the time the two captains shook hands, he had batted 376 balls, remaining unbeaten on 110. South Africa finished on 248/8 and their debutant had saved them the blushes twice in the match, in both innings. He was deservingly adjudged the Man of the Match for his heroic twin knocks.
Granted, Australia were down a bowler when James Pattinson was injured in the first innings, and Siddle and Hilfenhaus were exhausted by the time Tea was taken on Day 5. And that the pitch was placid with not much happening for the bowlers. But to bat on for over 120 overs, on debut, trying to save the match for your country when the rest of the team have had a bad day in the office, that takes a lot of grit and resoluteness. And Du Plessis had them in abundance.
Overall, he faced 535 balls in the match, the second-highest by any debutant in the history of Test cricket. The doggedness and gritty mindedness defined Du Plessis' career. Whilst his average of 40.02 doesn’t inspire much confidence and is just the 18th-highest among all South African batsmen with over 1,000 runs in Tests, it was moments like these that defined his career.
As Du Plessis celebrates his 37th birthday today, here’s celebrating his debut that defined who he was as a batsman and a leader. Here’s hoping to see a lot more of him in the T20 format.