6 of the most innovative tactics used in cricket in 2016

#3 Du Plessis’s Warner-avoiding declaration

du Plessis scored a fighting hundred and then declared

Anyone who has watched Francois ‘Faf’ du Plessis play cricket for some time will agree that he is crafty and has a shrewd cricketing brain. When the South African was appointed temporary Test captain for the Australia series with AB de Villiers injured, the only questions asked were about his batting form, not his leadership abilities.

After 2 Tests of the 3-Test series, du Plessis’s South Africa took an unassailable 2-0 lead, thanks to some outstanding bowling from Kyle Abbott and Kagiso Rabada. In the meantime, du Plessis was levelled with a ball-tampering charge by the ICC and was found guilty at the end of the series.

So with all this preying on his mind, he could have been forgiven for not being at his best captaincy-wise in the 3rd Test – a day-night match at Adelaide.

But while batting brilliantly on 118 not out and with South Africa at 259 for 9, du Plessis, noticing that David Warner had been off the field for some time, decided to declare (after just 76 overs) to make sure that Warner couldn’t come out straight away to open the batting as he normally does.

Of course, the rule is that if you’re off the field for more than a certain amount of time, you must spend the same amount of time on the field before you’re allowed to bat or bowl again. As Warner had 6 more minutes to go on the field he would not be allowed to bat, Australia had to make an annoyed Usman Khawaja open with debutant Matt Renshaw.

It didn’t work out well for du Plessis, though, with Khawaja notching up a century, and Australia winning the dead rubber easily.