On the eve of the second Test against Australia at St George's Park Port Elizabeth, South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis has said that they would look to entice Australia vice-captain David Warner, who is just one demerit point away from getting a Test match suspension.
On Wednesday (March 7), Warner was fined 75 percent of his match fee and handed over three demerit points for his involvement in a stairwell altercation with South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock. It is worth mentioning here that four demerit points result in an automatic suspension of one Test or two limited-overs internationals, whichever comes first.
“I didn’t think of it before the series but I did hear that yesterday and it’s probably being a little bit smart by being like that,” Du Plessis told reporters.
“If you can entice someone to make a mistake to get them missing the rest of the series, that’s probably a tactical move.
“But before we came into the series when I looked at all the demerit points, all of it was on the South African team’s side. There wasn’t much on the Australian team. Now that it’s happened it’s a possible angle we can look to get to,” he added.
The Proteas skipper also said he isn’t expecting Australia to change their tactics despite all the unpleasant incidents in the first Test at Durban.
“They are a team that’s always done it (sledge) and will always do it. They’re not going to change that overnight,” Du Plessis asserted.
“They’ve always had characters within their team, and it’s not even the whole team, it’s probably just two or three guys … you could almost see that’s their job in the team, to go that route,” he elaborated.
Given the fact that Warner has accepted a sanction of three points imposed on him by ICC match referee Jeff Crowe, he is free to take part in the Port Elizabeth Test, scheduled to start on Friday (March 9). De Kock was charged with a Level 1 offence for the same breach and has been fined 25 percent of his match fee. The Proteas glovesman had also earned one demerit point for bringing the game into disrepute.
