Faf du Plessis, the former captain of Cricket South Africa, may have a chance to return to the national side. Though he retired from Test cricket in February 2021, the 38-year-old’s impressive performances in franchise leagues worldwide have made it possible for him to make another bid for his country’s side in limited-overs cricket. Recently, conversations have been ongoing between Faf du Plessis and the white-ball coach Rob Walter even though his name was not included in the ODI and T20I squads announced in March 2021.
Enoch Nkwe, the CSA director of cricket, stated that the board is always willing to allow freelance cricketers to rejoin their squads due to the changing environment of global cricket. The board is considering contracts based on specific formats, which could bring about more players. Nkwe declared:
“We have always been open to talks with our freelance players, and Rob is very much interested in resuming those conversations. A lot of players are still committed to all three formats but we have some players who are only white ball and some only red ball.”
“What we foresee in the near future, maybe even the next 12 months, is that we might even go more specifically to T20, ODI and Test contracts. Those are some of the things that we’re looking at.
Du Plessis was being considered, yet no consensus was ultimately made. “There were conversations before the World Cup with the selection panel and the coach and they concluded without a solution. From a CSA point of view, we are happy to engage and see how we can find the best way forward.”
Nearly two months ago, Rob Walter – Proteas’ Head Coach for white-ball cricket – expressed his admiration for Du Plessis and his skill with the T20 game, further adding that South Africa required superior players, such as him. As mentioned by SA Cric Mag, Walter stated: “Faf has not retired yet. He is still playing very good T20 cricket. He will build his future around T20 leagues. I haven’t spoken to him at all yet, but if he would like to talk about the possibility of playing for South Africa again, I would be open to that. He is a quality player, and the more quality players you have who want to play for South Africa, the better.”
