SA vs ENG | On-field incident with Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler just standing up to opponents, insists Faf du Plessis

01/28/2020

Faf du Plessis said that the incident involving Jos Buttler and Stuart Broad was just a case of him standing up to opponents. The said incident took place on Day 4 of the fourth and final Test, being held at the Wanderer’s Stadium in Johannesburg, when the South Africa captain bumped into Buttler.

South Africa skipper, on Monday, post Day 4’s play at the Wanderer’s, said that the episode of conflict between him and the English players was nothing but a product of his natural disposition. During the proceedings of the penultimate day of the final Test, du Plessis seemed to have bumped into the English wicketkeeper. England were clearly frustrated with Du Plessis and Rassie van der Dussen’s a 92-run partnership on a hot afternoon. Eventually, Faf was found exchanging a heated argument with veteran Stuart Broad.

The day turned out to be the final day of the Test as England bundled up South Arica for 274 and won the Test by 191 runs. After a throw from Sam Curran hit his pads, there were some heated words and Du Plessis appeared to walk into Buttler. However, according to du Plessis, it wasn’t much and just him, as a leader, standing up to his opponents.

"That's part of my character. If you go back you'll find I'm always involved in a little bit of something in a game, trying to show that fight as a leader of the team to show you don't stand back to opposition,” Du Plessis said in the post-match interview, as quoted by Cricbuzz.

"It's not like I'm looking for it but if it comes across my way I won't back down. So that was just him (Broad) saying something to me and me saying something back. I don't think either Jos or myself knew we touched each other. It was just myself and Broady having a go at each other at that stage and it was him trying to get between me and him. There was no malicious intent.”

England captain Joe Root also added that the incident in question was "absolute nothing" and that at the time England was, in fact, worried that it would make Du Plessis more resolute.

"I thought Faf was using it to get himself going and my worry was that it was going to work in his favour. It was absolute handbags," stated Joe Root.

Here's the video of the incident: