Australia scarred after ODI series whitewash: SA captain Faf du Plessis
South Africa head into the Test series against Australia having whitewashed them 5-0 in the ODIs
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis believes Australia will head into next month’s series against his team mentally scarred following their whitewash by the Proteas in the recent ODI series.
Australia suffered their first-ever 5-0 whitewash in an ODI series against South Africa recently and will now host Du Plessis’ side for three Tests starting on November 3 in Perth. The third Test in Adelaide will be a day-night encounter.
“Beating Australia the way we did — really convincingly, not giving them a sniff — will leave a bit of a scar on them mentally. I appreciate it’s Test cricket, a different format,” Du Plessis told reporters.
“They will have a different team, probably a more mature team (than their ODI squad). So it’s important to start well in the first Test and remind them that we are in the same space as the one-day team.”
Du Plessis, who will captain the team in the absence of injured AB de Villiers, is wary of the threat posed by Mitchell Starc, who has picked up 115 wickets in 28 tests.
Starc, who was rested from Australia’s ODI tour of South Africa, sustained a freak accident in training last month.
“Starc is a huge bowler for them. We’ll need to make sure we get good prep in with left-arm quicks. He’s obviously someone who can crank it up and get it close to 150km/h and then obviously he’s very good with reverse swing,” Du Plessis added.