South Africa reset focus in bid to climb up rankings

Despite a dearth of Test cricket compared to the Big Three and several months between fixtures, South Africa, at times, took their place in the format for granted and in so doing lost some of their stature. That was the startling admission of stand-in captain Faf du Plessis ahead of the two-Test series against New Zealand, which sees South Africa competing from No. 7 on the rankings after starting the year on top.

"We had a nice culture because we were playing well and then you can almost just leave it be. Now, we want to challenge each other more and that goes right from the top, from the coaching staff to the guys carrying drinks on the field. We are trying to challenge each other more to be better and to not accept mediocrity," du Plessis said. "We have fallen in a few traps where we play so much cricket, you just rock up and play another game of cricket but playing for South Africa is a huge honour and it's about challenging each other to be better and to get back to being No. 1."

The ladder back to the top cannot be climbed immediately but any margin of victory for South Africa over New Zealand will see them move up to fifth spot and for du Plessis, that's a start. "We've got series at home now which can make a difference and which we will need to win. We've got New Zealand now and Sri Lanka later this year and in both those series, if we play well, we should win," he said.

If South Africa hope to turn things around, they have to start by exorcising the demons that discovered them in India late last year. "We suffered a bit; we had a few ghosts after the Indian series and that was most of the guys. India was tough for us a batting unit and it left a few scars," du Plessis said. "Now it's a new season, we can focus on the strength of our batting again. The only way we can do that is by putting runs on the board."

Du Plessis was one of the players that struggled most. In seven innings in India, he recorded three ducks and only made more than 10 runs once. Although he managed one fifty in five innings against England at home, he was dropped for the final Test at Centurion. Now, he returns as captain with a point to prove. "I had been very successful up until that point, where I averaged close to 50 in Test cricket so to look to dramatically change things would be wrong," he said. "But it's about going back to my game plans and what worked really well. If you have good form, you can just run with it and score as many runs as possible. If you are on the other side of that, you need to fight to get back in. In the England series, we were fighting to get back into form after the Indian series. It's an important series for me personally to try and make a statement in that middle order and be a powerful batter in our line-up."

Batting was only half South Africa's problem though. They were also deficient with ball in hand last summer, during which they were without Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. The pair have returned from their respective injuries and du Plessis believes it will make a big difference to South Africa's ability to compete. "We saw when they weren't there against England that you cannot replace an experienced attack. Take Southee and Boult out of New Zealand or Anderson and Broad out of England and it's just a different team," he said. "There's no substitute in Test cricket for guys who can bowl relentlessly in good areas for a long period of time. Young bowlers can come in and do well in any other format but, especially in Test cricket, experience is really important."

New Zealand have Southee and Boult in their ranks, to complement an inform batting line-up in which Tom Latham, Ross Taylor, Kane Williamson and BJ Watling all recently scored centuries in Zimbabwe, which should make for what du Plessis predicts will be an "evenly matched series", but what he hopes will put South Africa ahead is their new approach. After a pre-series team-building camp in which South Africa promised to form "a new culture driven by a lot more honesty", they also took a decision to be more assertive on the field.

"We are a very resilient team and sometimes we waited for the chips to be down and then we came back and played really good cricket. We did that extremely well and there was a time when we were the only team that could stick it out and fight back and draw," du Plessis said, making reference to matches like the Adelaide, Wanderers and Colombo Tests, where South Africa forced draws from what seemed like lost causes.

Now South Africa want to move from that defensive style of play to a more attacking one. "For us to move forward as a team, we need to throw the first punch more and play a more aggressive brand of cricket," du Plessis said but tempered it a touch. "Aggressive never means doing anything stupid. We understand what we need to do. The basics in Test cricket will always remain the most important thing. It's just more a mindset to be a little bit more attacking."