Jealousy of AB, Warner the bully

JOHANNESBURG. – What is the most appropriate attire to face 11 hostile Australians?

If you said a small white towel, you have a lot more in common with Faf du Plessis than you might have thought.

The incident occurred almost five years ago but has already been enshrined in cricket folklore.

During the first of four Test matches between Steve Smith’s Australians and Du Plessis’s Proteas, on-field verbal abuse escalated in the players’ tunnel in Durban.

It was tea on the fourth day. Aiden Markram, who’d take his score of 85 to 143 before being dismissed, and Quinton de Kock were battling to save the Test. Du Plessis had already been bowled by Pat Cummins for four and was cooling off in the shower when he heard a commotion outside the dressing room door.

With little concern for the optics, he grabbed a towel, tightly wrapped it around his body, and went to investigate what was going on.

He found David Warner hurling a torrent of abuse at De Kock.

Violence was in the air and only avoided thanks to players on both sides. Tensions only cooled once Du Plessis’ bare chest and shoulders entered the scene.

This is just one anecdote of a cricket life recounted by Du Plessis in his book, Faf: Through Fire, which went on sale this month.

“My story is about failure,” Du Plessis tells the BBC. “I didn’t want to write a cricket book. I wouldn’t have started if that was the aim.

“I wanted to write a book about leadership, about relationships, about struggle. That’s what this is about. I wanted to create something that people would be able to relate to.

“They might see me as an elite athlete and cricket captain, but I was a person who was filled with self-doubt and insecurity. And that’s OK.

“Australia wanted to bully us.

“We had to stand up for ourselves. They abused us that whole game but the way we fought back turned the series around.”

But Du Plessis admits he often felt “jealous” of De Villiers.

Once he learned to accept this, he was able to find comfort in his own journey, one that took a lot longer to reach the apex of his sport. – BBC Sport.