London — As much as SA’s Test series in England has been about teams who seem adept at winning and losing equally emphatically, the subplot has been about Faf du Plessis and Joe Root. But while the rubber is level going into the third Test at The Oval on Thursday there is a clear leader in the captaincy contest. And he is not from Yorkshire. Media conferences featuring Du Plessis are becoming masterclasses in leadership prompted by questions from an English press pack who have not made up their minds about Root’s captaincy ability. Du Plessis’ interaction with reporters on Wednesday was a case in point. "When I took over it was at a time of real darkness as a Test team," he said of his elevation, originally as a stand-in for the injured AB de Villiers, for the home series against New Zealand in August — when SA fell to No7 in the Test rankings. They beat the Kiwis and followed that with victories in Australia, against Sri Lanka at home, and in New Zealand to surge back to No2. Du Pl...
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