Watch: Faf du Plessis involved in ugly on-field spat with Buttler, Broad

South Africa captain Faf du Plessis gave hint recently that the ongoing Test series against England might be the last red-ball match on home soil. Du Plessis has had a tough time with captaincy over the past months, mainly the disappointment at the ICC World Cup and then the below-par performance in the Test series in India. 

But Faf lead South Africa beat England in the first Test in Centurion in the ongoing series but lost the next one poorly.

South African batting let them down yet again in the fourth Test in Johannesburg. After allowing England to get to 400, South Africa were all out for just 183. England though did not enforce a follow-on and batted again to score 248. The Proteas were left to score a huge total of 466 to level the series but had to struggle to save the game on Day 4. Eventually, England won by 191 runs to win the series 3-1.

Things get heated up against Faf du Plessis and Broad, Buttler

#SAvsENG #ProteaFire don’t call our skipper that!!☝? pic.twitter.com/dzUECGbIS0

— Thabiso Mazibuko (@therealThabiso1) January 27, 2020

Day 4 witnessed a not-so-happy incident when Faf du Plessis had a heated conversation with the England players. During the 57th over of South Africa innings, a throw from Sam Curran hit Du Plessis following which he was involved in a heated exchange with several England fielders including Stuart Broad. It was during this moment that Du Plessis seemed to have deliberately barged England’s Jos Buttler. However, neither Du Plessis nor his England counterpart Joe Root is reading too much into the incident.

 It could not be understood what exactly had been communicated between Du Plessis and the England players but having lost the focus, the SA captain left the crease soon after he made 35 off 92 balls in the second innings before getting bowled by Ben Stokes. It was the second-highest score in this series for him, in which he could manage only 151 runs in eight innings.

Captains react

It’s part of my character,” said Du Plessis after South Africa were beaten by 191 runs at the Wanderers.

“I am always involved in a little bit of something somewhere in the game – trying to show that fight as the leader of the team, that you don’t stand back. It’s not like I am looking for it. It just happens. He said something to me and I said something back.”

“It was absolutely nothing,” said Root.

“In fact, I thought Faf was probably using it as an excuse to get himself going and get himself in a contest. My worry was it would work in his favour. Because of things that happened previously in this series it will be made a big thing of but honestly it was absolute handbags. I’m not worried at all. He didn’t exactly knock him over, did he?”

Things not looking good for Far

Du Plessis was dropped from South Africa’s ODI squad for the three-match series starting February 4 earlier this week. The 35-year-old was replaced by wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. South Africa cricket authorities, however, said that he still features in their plans as a batsman. Proteas will play three-match ODI series against England starting from 4th of February. The three-match T20I series will start on the 12th of February.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qeUg6O_FJ8