It’s been a rough few months for South Africa’s cricket-loving public, so you can only imagine what it’s been like for the Proteas skipper, Faf du Plessis.

He might be busy on the field, leading the Paarl Rocks to the Mzansi Super League final, but he’s also been dealing with a complete unravelling of Cricket South Africa (CSA) off the field.

CEO Thabang Moroe may have been suspended on Friday (with full pay – oh, the horror), but there is an immense amount of work to be done before the governing body gains back the trust of the players.

Rather than let it get him down, though, Faf is trying to put on a brave face, and he was on fine form yesterday.

Just after the toss ahead of his team’s match against the Nelson Mandela Bay Giants, he explained the absence of fast bowler Hardus Viljoen in rather unique terms.

Observe his chirp towards Hardus and sister Rhemi Rhynners:

Faf du Plessis “Hardus Viljoen is not playing today cos he is lying in bed with my sister. They got married yesterday.” This is hilarious 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/1AwHQnrUtC

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) December 8, 2019

I can’t say I saw that one coming.

Props to Faf for telling it like it is, and congrats to the happy couple, below:

As for dealing with the mess at CSA, the skipper says it’s time to buckle down and focus on what needs to happen on the field.

This via Sport24:

With the start of a Test series against England only 18 days away, Du Plessis said: “There’s not much time before the England series, so now it’s about putting the focus back on to the team and making sure that the Test team gets all the things that are required for them, or us, to be successful.”

…”It’s time for us to look ahead,” he said.

“The players have got absolutely nothing to do with what is happening behind the scenes. It’s important to separate that from a player point of view.”

Agreed, but it can’t be easy focusing on the cricket alone when there is such a mess in the structures up top.

Then again, if Faf can laugh, maybe so can we.

[source:sport24]