JP Duminy place under pressure, admits Faf du Plessis

Now, after failing to hit 40 home runs in eight innings, du Plessis has been forced to admit that Duminy isn’t doing enough. He scored 15 and 2 in the first Test at Lord’s before being dismissed at tea on day four as South Africa suffered a 221-run defeat.

“JP will be the first player to say that he knows he has to score for this team and it is no different for anyone else,” du Plessis said. “He desperately wants to do as well as anyone in that position. He wants to try and score every time he does that. He knows that at the end of the day it’s about scoring. He understands that you have to get in a position where there are other people to look at… he’ll be the first to admit it. [that]. He is an important part of our senior group of players, as he always puts the team’s interests ahead of his own. He would be the first to admit that.”

“Do you think there is a possibility of a four-seam attack because if you lose KG you lose a pretty quality bowler? That means you have batsmen to miss,” du Plessis said. “That’s a choice.”

Either way, du Plessis seems to be hinting that de Bruyn, who scored 48 in the first innings in his second Test, is likely to be ahead of Duminy for the rest of this series. “You see someone like Theunis de Bruyn who played this game quite well. He was at Lord’s and this was his second Test match. He was solid in the first innings. He played well,” du Plessis said.

The form of the middle order was the only positive thing South Africa’s batting could take from the Lord’s Test after the top four disappointed again. Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander have all scored half-centuries and du Plessis is especially keen to see one of them convert it into something bigger.

“Temba has been consistent once again,” du Plessis said. “But now what Temba needs to do is to change the starters for sure. He is playing brilliantly but he knows that 50s is not going to win us the game. The difference between the two teams is that one man scored 190 points. That changed the outcome of the game.”

Bavuma has scored three fifties in his last four Tests, but has only scored 100 runs during his brief career – against England in January 2016. However, having to constantly bail out the top order could be a break for him and du Plessis stressed the top two would need to perform well. Dean Elgar started at Lord’s with a half-century in the first innings and Du Plessis was confident that Heino Kuhn, who was unconvincing on debut, would show his experience at some stage.

“Heino Kuhn is no longer a young player, but he is new to Test cricket,” Du Plessis said. “I don’t think it’s all a fairytale story of getting 200 points in the first game. Just ask Dean, he got a pair in the first game. It’s about character and how you stand up to him. This will be good. It will make him stronger.”