Du Plessis did not play in England’s crushing 211-run win in the first of a four-Test series at Lord’s last week following the birth of his first child.
But he was on hand to see South Africa lose 10 wickets in under two sessions as they slumped to 119 all out in their second innings with more than a day to spare.
“I had the baby with one arm and watched the cricket with one eye,” du Plessis told reporters at Trent Bridge yesterday — his 33rd birthday and the day before the second Test starts today.
“I saw a lot interesting things from the side which is probably a bit of outside perspective, you don’t always get that,” he added as he took back the reins from stand-in skipper Dean Elgar.
“I’m really excited to be back with the team. It was tough going for us, the previous one, we weren’t as good as we would like to have been but in cricket you get another go and we’re looking forward to this next Test.”
South Africa have a proud away Test record. In their past 19 series spanning some 10 years on the road, they’ve won 13, drawn five and lost just one — in India in 2015/16.
But they did not help themselves at Lord’s by twice taking wickets with no-balls and missing several chances to dismiss Joe Root before he marked his first innings as England captain with a brilliant 190.
“It’s basics for me, there’s no point looking too much further as you can over-analyse,” said du Plessis.
South Africa did manage to reduce England to 76 for four on the first morning at Lord’s before the hosts fought back, aided by some slack Proteas fielding.
“There were times that England found themselves under pressure — the disappointing thing was just how quickly they got out of it,” said du Plessis.
‘Sat back’
“Eighty for four could have quickly been a different story but we didn’t take our chances. Catches go down but it’s how you respond to them and we didn’t do that well enough.
“When they threw a punch back at us we just sat back and let it happen, expecting something to change and it never did and that is where we let the game slip.”
South Africa’s task this match has been made harder by the fact that pace bowler Kagiso Rabada has been ruled out after being hit with a one-match ban as a result of swearing at England’s Ben Stokes at Lord’s, while Proteas coach Russell Domingo is back home following the death of his mother from injuries suffered in a recent car accident.
“’KG’ (Rabada) is an unforeseen circumstance, so you can’t plan for that,” senior batsman du Plessis said.
“The stuff off the field you can’t plan for (either) — I didn’t expect the baby to come earlier, the tragedy in Russell’s family etc — it’s a huge character test for us.”
“What was missing in the first Test was that we didn’t do that (show enough character).”
While acknowledging Trent Bridge’s reputation as a ‘swing-friendly’ ground, du Plessis said it was important his side played what was in front of them at Nottinghamshire’s headquarters.
“We know the ball is conducive to the swing and seam bowlers but we have a quality attack,” he insisted.
“I’ve never been a guy to get too focussed on past results. “It’s about getting out there, seeing what the pitch offers and how you react.”
Root wants England to make start ‘count’
England captain Joe Root is determined his side don’t let up when the second Test against South Africa starts at Nottingham’s Trent Bridge today.
Root’s first match since succeeding Alastair Cook as England skipper was a personal triumph, with the 26-year-old Yorkshireman scoring a first-innings 190 in a 211-run win in the series opener at Lord’s last week as the hosts went 1-0 up with more than a day to spare.
England, however, lost eight Tests last year and Root is wary of letting complacency creep in. “We definitely want to make sure we make this start count,” Root told reporters at Trent Bridge yesterday, with England looking to go an unassailable 2-0 up in this four-match series. “It’s important we set the tone with whatever we do tomorrow morning and drive that forward throughout the rest of the game.”
Root confirmed England would field an unchanged team after off-spinner Moeen Ali, who took 10 wickets on a turning pitch at Lord’s, and slow left-armer Liam Dawson helped ease the workload on his seamers. “We’re going to go in with the same team,” Root said. “It gives us great balance if spin does come into it later in the game, we’ve got plenty of options.
“Our seamers, it might be that they play a bigger part this week, but that quite excites me. They only bowled a handful of overs in the second innings last week. It means they’re nice and fresh, and when they get their opportunity they’ll still be pretty fresh coming into the second innings later in this game.”
‘Smart’ Anderson
One of those pacemen, James Anderson, did not bowl much during Thursday’s nets session, but Root insisted England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker was fully fit after struggling with groin and shoulder problems recently.
“He had a little bowl today,” Root added. “Jimmy knows his body, he’s obviously had a couple of injury issues over the course of this year and I think he’s just been smart with the way that he practises. “He’s a senior player, he knows what he’s doing. He’s done it for such a long time now.
“It’s really important that he’s smart in how he looks after his body and I think how he’s gone about it this week is when he has bowled he’s made sure that he’s been right on it and he’s got something out of it, but at the same time he’s got plenty in the tank for when we start on Friday.”
This match will be England’s first Test at Trent Bridge since their stunning Ashes-clinching success two years ago, when Stuart Broad took a remarkable eight for 15 on his Nottinghamshire home ground as Australia were bowled out for just 60 on the first morning.
“I think Stuart’s excited to get another opportunity to bowl here on his home ground,” said Root.
“We’ve played some good cricket here over the last four or five years and we want to make sure that continues this week.”
This week also saw England’s women qualify for the semi-finals of their World Cup. “It’s brilliant for the game,” said Root. “To get to the semi-finals is a great achievement and to do it under the pressure of hosting the tournament is great. I wish them all the luck.”
The England women went into the last four on the back of a 75-run win over New Zealand at Derby on Wednesday that saw Natalie Sciver twice deliberately hit the ball between her legs during the course of a brilliant 129.
Asked about the ‘Natmeg’, as the shot has become known, Root — one of the leading batsmen in the men’s game — said: “I’m not sure I’ve quite got that in my locker.
“It’s a great bit of skill to be able to play that and I think Jonny Bairstow has played it a few times but not quite as good as that.”