Daily Times

CAPE TOWN: An international comeback is still possible for Faf du Plessis, who was not included in South Africa’s T20I squad to play West Indies later this month but continues to hold conversations with new white-ball coach Rob Walter. Walter and du Plessis discussed the possibility of the former captain making an imminent return but scheduling and contracting challenges have made it difficult for now. With Cricket South Africa (CSA) set to announce new central contracts later this month, and the idea of single-format contracts being floated, du Plessis could be back in the picture with the 2024 T20 World Cup in mind. “We have always been open to talks with our freelance players and Rob is very much interested in resuming those conversations,” Enoch Nkwe, CSA’s Director of Cricket said. “In terms of contracting, us and SACA (the South African Cricketers’ Association) are engaging in that aspect to ensure that we remain proactive, because the reality is that a lot is evolving in our cricketing landscape. We’ve got to try our utmost best to be on the front foot. A lot of players are still committed to all three formats but we have some players who are only white ball and some only red ball. What we foresee in the near future, maybe even the next 12 months, is that we might even go more specifically to T20, ODI and Test contracts. Those are some of the things that we’re actually looking at.”

Du Plessis retired from Test cricket in February 2021 but remained available for selection in white-ball formats. He was not picked for any series including the 2021 and 2022 T20 World Cups despite stunning form in leagues across the world. Since his final Test, du Plessis has played 90 innings in the PSL, CPL, IPL, BPL, BBL and SA20, scoring 2747 runs at 33.91, higher than his overall average of 31.18, including four of his five T20 hundreds. Nkwe confirmed du Plessis was in talks with CSA about making a comeback for both T20I World Cups but the selection panel at the time, which consisted of Victor Mpitsang and Patrick Moroney, could not come to an agreement.