Faf du Plessis has admitted that the Proteas face the most challenging beginning to the men’s World Test Championship.
SA’s first engagement will be a series in India in October‚ followed by a home rubber against England in December – the same schedule that played out badly four seasons ago.
“We probably have the toughest start‚” Du Plessis was quoted as saying in a Cricket SA statement on Tuesday.
“But everyone will play everyone‚ so it doesn’t really matter.”
India are deservedly the No 1-ranked team, while England won the World Cup earlier in July, revitalising the game in that country.
But there is doubt about the pitches SA will encounter in India – they will be extremely difficult to bat on.
That is what happened in their last series there‚ in November 2015‚ when the Indians prepared pitches that favoured their team to an outrageous degree.
So much so that the surface for the third Test in Nagpur was damned as “poor” by the International Cricket Council.
SA limped home with a 3-0 hiding to face England‚ who beat them 2-1.
Du Plessis hailed the establishment of the championship‚ calling it “something new and quite exciting for this format”.
“For the last while we have longed to have something to play for that gives proper context to Test cricket‚” he said.
“The Proteas have had some cracking contests in bilateral series over the last couple of years‚ and going forward the stakes are high because every series matters over a period of two years, with it culminating in a final at Lord’s.”