Cape Town – Faf du Plessis said on Sunday that Test matches were cricket’smost exciting format after his side clinched their series against Pakistanwith a nine-wicket win on the fourth day at Newlands on Sunday.
The South African captain disagreed with Pakistan coach Mickey Arthur’scriticism of the pitches for the first two Tests, both won by South Africain less than four days.
South Africa needed just 48 minutes and 9.5 overs to score the 41 runsneeded on Sunday to score a second successive win – and a seventhsuccessive home series victory.
Du Plessis said lively surfaces and an attacking mindset, encouraged byTwenty20 cricket, had helped make Test cricket exciting.
“There are not a lot of Test matches that are going five days around theworld any more,” he said.
“The speed of play has gone up tremendously. Test cricket has evolved andit is great for the fans. They are getting fours, sixes, lots of wicketsand pace bowlers bowling. Test cricket for me the last few years has beenthe most exciting format of all.”
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Du Plessis said the pitch at Newlands had been challenging on the first twodays but there were rewards for batsmen.
“If Pakistan batted well yesterday (Saturday), today and tomorrow wouldhave been good batting wickets. It flattened out and the ball got soft. Itwas tough on day two but we scored close to 400 runs,” he said.
The South African captain felt Pakistan had missed a chance to put pressureon the hosts by failing to capitalise on a sparkling third wicket standbetween Shan Masood and Asad Shafiq on Saturday. The tourists reached 159for two but were bowled out for 294, leaving South Africa an easy target.
“They had an opportunity to get 150 (ahead) on the board but we did reallywell after tea, making sure we did not let the opposition get back in thegame,” he said.
