Faf Du Plessis on a mission to stop England's 'fire-breathing dragon' Ben Stokes

Roar-some: Stokes is the England player South Africa fear most in the Test series
PA
Tom Collomosse10 July 2017

Ben Stokes is the dragon South Africa must tame to stop England running away with the series, says South Africa captain Faf Du Plessis.

Du Plessis and Stokes were team-mates at Indian Premier League franchise Rising Pune Supergiant, who handed Stokes a £1.7million contract.

South Africa were beaten in four days at Lord’s and will be without strike bowler Kagiso Rabada for the Second Investec Test at Trent Bridge, which starts on Friday. Rabada picked up a fourth demerit point in 24 months for swearing at Stokes on day one at Lord’s, triggering an automatic one-Test ban under ICC rules.

But Du Plessis was quick to absolve Stokes of blame. “It is nothing to do with Ben,” said Du Plessis. “Ben is very fiery, which is what makes him so competitive and skilful. I called him ‘The Dragon’ in the IPL as he breathes fire when he gets angry.

“It is important to have characters. You have to control your emotions but when you are playing Test cricket for your country, you fight as hard as you can and do everything you can to win.”

Dean Elgar, who captained South Africa at Lord’s, said Rabada had “possibly” let the team down and that the 22-year-old had apologised to senior tour officials.

Yet returning skipper Du Plessis will not ask Rabada to say sorry to the rest of the squad. Du Plessis missed the Lord’s Test to attend the birth of his first child but will take control again this week.

Du Plessis said: “I would never tell Kagiso to change the way he is. It’s important he plays the way he does. You need your natural instinct and personality because that creates the best version of yourself.

“I would never expect him to apologise to the team. He was showing what he is made of and that he desperately wants to do well for his country. It is a shame not to have him as he is a really big part of this team and in a series like this you want to see the best players compete against each other.”

Meanwhile, South Africa coach Russell Domingo has returned home to be with his mother, who was taken to hospital after a car accident last month, while England and South Africa were contesting their three-match Twenty20 series.

Domingo left the tour immediately, before coming back to England, but he has now gone back to South Africa again.

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