The South African think tank took an extremely bold step, by releasing the out of form batsman JP Duminy, from their squad currently in England. With South Africa set to take on England at the Oval from today, the focus shall remain on Faf du Plessis, given his shrewd captaincy did wonders for the visitors at Nottingham in the second Test.
With an array of talented batsmen in the wings for South Africa, the move to axe Duminy from the longest form of the game was sooner or later expected. The troubled southpaw has endured a disastrous run in Tests of late, with underwhelming scores in Australia, New Zealand and in England.
Duminy was also axed for the second Test at Nottingham, which his side comprehensively won by 340 runs. Ahead of the third Test, du Plessis had a blunt advice for Duminy, suggesting that he should probably focus on being a limited overs specialist.
“If he wants to. he’s got a long way back,” du Plessis said. “Thenius de Bruyn will be our next in batsman now and then we’ve got Aiden Markram, who’s a young exciting batsman. “One can never write-off a player.”
“Duminy will have to decide if he wants to fight his way back into the Test team or if he just wants to focus on playing white-ball cricket for South Africa. “That’s a decision that he would have to make. “But a player of JP’s quality, if he wanted to come back and put in the performances there’s still a way back for him,” said du Plessis.
Backing youngster Aiden Markram to excel in the near future, du Plessis said, “And with us having an extra guy in the squad and a youngster in Aiden Markram, it’s just an opportunity for him to learn now and get some valuable information and obviously tap into some of the senior guys in the team and see how we prepare and how we play.”