Faf Du Plessis insists South Africa won't bring up sandpaper in Australia

Waseem Ahmed 10:41 02/11/2018
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  • South Africa captain Faf Du Plessis has vowed to leave ‘sandpaper-gate’ alone after taking their ODI team Down Under to face Australia.

    Eight months have passed since the Test in Cape Town in which David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were caught conspiring to tamper with the ball – resulting in lengthy bans for the trio.

    In the meantime Australia have been crushed in an ODI series in England and across all formats against Pakistan in the UAE, amid the backdrop of internal strife back home.

    Cricket Australia is in disarray – with chairman David Peever stepping down on Thursday in reaction to a report claiming that he had presided over an ‘arrogant and controlling’ culture within the organisation.

    But as far as South Africa concerned, that infamous incident is water under the bridge – according to Du Plessis.

    “I don’t think us as a team would go there,” said Du Plessis, who was fined for ball tampering after allegedly sucking on a mint and shining the ball in Australia two years ago. “It’s got nothing to do with the cricket – it’s in the past. For us, it’s business as usual.”

    Hashim Amla and JP Duminy are missing through injury for the three-ODI, single-T20 tour which starts on Sunday in Perth, but Dale Steyn is fit and firing and will take his place alongside fellow pace ace Kagiso Rabada.

    Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins are back to reinforce Australia’s quicks armoury amid a raft of changes that had seen skipper Tim Paine axed for explosive batsman Aaron Finch. Spinner Nathon Lyon and all-rounder Mitch March have also been dropped.

    For Finch, Australia’s problems start and stop with the batting.

    “We’ve struggled with the bat for quite a while now and it’s up to us guys who get first go of it in Perth next Sunday against South Africa to start rewriting that last probably 18 months,” he said.

    “I think that when you have a bit of change in the side, it’s about starting to build a really good dynamic and a really good chemistry within that side.

    “We’ve been trying new things, we’ve been out in the nets for hours. You can’t question it from that point of view. It’s just about making sure that we start to build partnerships again.”
    Australia: Aaron Finch (capt), Josh Hazlewood, Alex Carey, Ashton Agar, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Chris Lynn, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, D’Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa

    South Africa: Faf du Plessis (capt), Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heinrich Klaasen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Chris Morris, Lungi Ngidi, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn.

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