Every game has a winner. Every winner has a game plan
One can draw a few parallels between Roger Federer’s sublime fortnight at Wimbledon – and the return of Faf Du Plessis to captain the Proteas – to an emphatic victory at Trent Bridge.
All the collective C ’s of Champions were on show:
Certainty , Congruency , Consistency , Character ,Confidence ,Coolness, Creativity ,Challenge ,Collected ,Committed , Courage, Capability, Culture , Charisma and Class.
It all makes for a potent champion’s cocktail called FCB:
Faith, Confidence and Belief.
But, Faf there is one more thing you need to do – now that you have had a few days off to Re-think , Re -imagine and Re- boot for the final two tests.
It’s that game changing and all important :
PHONE CALL
It’s time to call your great mate back . A.B de Villiers.
It’s never too late.
Call him back to play in the final two test matches in England .Power Up!
AB must be sitting on the couch at home watching and wondering just how he missed out on a very special English summer with his mates – playing a test series in front of capacity crowds .
Looking back , the disappointing selection pressure put on AB, before the 2015 World Cup semi- final, changed things for him .
That loss to the Blacks Caps having an acute effect on AB and the Proteas – and for many months thereafter , they were lost as a cricket team
Most cricket pundits believed he was not the right man to captain the Proteas at the recent ICC championship, given how he had taken that semi final loss to heart – as a captain.
So , why continue to burden such a great player, with all the ”off the field ” challenges of captaining the Proteas ?
To read the article I penned on the incident way back in April 2015 : CLICK HERE
However , there can be no doubting that AB de Villiers has proven that he is one of South Africa’s greatest ever cricketers – and greatest ever sporting ambassadors :
Entertaining , Educating and Enriching lives
Now at 33 years old he’s missing from the biggest cricketing stage ?
It makes zero sense.
It’s time to just let him play the game with no captain’s armband – and share his vast experience with the younger players in the squad – just like Hashim Amla does .
AB should never have been allowed to ” walk away ” from test cricket.
He should have been given leave of absence for all the minor test series – to allow him the ” time away ” he needed – and to allow other younger players to earn their international test stripes on a lesser stage.
But, certainly no leave when it comes down to a major test series in England .
At age 33 – it’s far too early for AB to hang up his boots on the bigger stage.
This past weekend , Roger Federer at age 35 , has shown us that age means little when one is dealing in class.
In Faf du Plessis , the Proteas have now found their right man to steer the team through whatever waters come their way – in all formats of the game.
Please Faf , make the call. Bring AB back to major test cricket – sooner , rather than later.
It’s important for Brand Proteas. And Brand South Africa .
Under a vastly inexperienced captain – in Joe Root , the English are vulnerable and ready for the taking.
Yes , they do possess a dynamic middle order, an experienced attack under English conditions , but their top order has little chance of dominating the SA bowling attack .
Now is the time to further bolster the Protea’s top order :
Elgar and Amla right upfront, followed by de Villiers, Du Plessis and De Kock.
Put England to the sword right up front in the game. Power up. #PROTEAFIRE
What looked like a Proteas team going into a tailspin in England, now presents our greatest opportunity
Here’s a short story I like to relate in my team workshops about leadership.
On returning from circumnavigating the world in a single expedition from 1577 to1580, one of Francis Drake’s sailors was asked this about his worldly possessions:
You have nothing after so much time and effort?
The sailor’s reply was emphatic :
No, I’ve not made much, I’ve been cold, I’ve been hungry, shipwrecked, desperately frightened, but I have been with the greatest captain who ever sailed the seas
Leadership matters most when the going gets tough.
Welgedaan Faf . Now take it to the next level .
#Proteafire
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