‘Want to get the best of Duminy at No. 4’

Faf du Plessis has already succeeded in one of Test captaincies’ toughest tasks and led South Africa to a series win in Australia, but his proper job begins now. Confirmed as South Africa’s permanent Test captain ahead of a three-match home series against Sri Lanka, du Plessis spoke to the media at Newlands about the resources at his disposal for this assignment.

The expectation is that this will be a much lower-profile series than Australia. How will you get the team up for their only home matches this summer?

I prepare the team and myself in exactly the same way. There is no big series and no small series. People expect us to beat Sri Lanka, but that’s not certain. They have played really good cricket over time. They have also lost some key players, which is something we will make sure we get into. But they are a quality cricket team, they’ve got exceptional spin bowlers. Hopefully the ball wont turn too much.

There’s a returning face in your pace pack – Wayne Parnell. What do you think he will add?

Parnell deserves it. His last Test match was a good Test match and then he got injured. He has been plagued by injuries. It’s good to see his hard work has paid off. He brings variety: left-arm seamer who can bowl quick. It’s really important that he can bat as well. The more options that you have in a team when you have a longer batting line-up, the better. You saw in Australia now with someone like Keshav Maharaj, a spinner that can bat, how much of a difference it actually makes when your top order doesn’t do their jobs on the day. …

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