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South Africa face sweet victory’s bitter aftertaste
- Updated: November 18, 2016
For the first time since the opening day in Perth, South Africa’s defences have been tested and, this time, they have held up strongly. The entire squad and support staff stood in solidarity with stand-in captain Faf du Plessis against what they see as victimisation after their third successive series win in Australia.
Let’s start with the obvious. Whether or not du Plessis is found guilty of altering the condition of the ball – which, when indulged in, is to encourage reverse swing – is irrelevant to the outcome of the series. Vernon Philander would still have found seam movement either way, Australia would still have lost. So South Africa see the charges as taking the shine of a deserved win and an attempt to diminish their success.
Hashim Amla said as much when he called the episode “sour sweets” in an extraordinary press conference at the MCG. Amla was accompanied by every single member of the touring party, who stood with him as he delivered the South African response to a charge that, at that stage, had not even been laid yet. Amla said he was not aware that the ICC was reviewing the footage and used strong words to dismiss the allegation. Words like “joke” and “ridiculous”, which came in response to similarly harsh words in the Australian media.
When the footage of du Plessis was first released on Wednesday, newspapers carrying the story prefaced du Plessis as a “confessed ball-tamperer” and the team as “notorious” for their working of the ball. Every major publication carried several stories on it, and it received substantial airtime on television. South Africa are not used to that sort of coverage, because the media landscape is much smaller back home and much softer in India – the other place where they are confronted with mass reportage.
They are understood to be seeing it as their fight against …
