South Africa's tour of Sri Lanka: Five Proteas players who can make an impact

4. Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis has been promoted to the role of vice-captain in this side. He is 29 years of age but only has 37 ODIs to his name and he has not reached the 1000 run mark as yet. His performances with the bat have been underwhelming in the shorter format of the game, but his fledgling Test record speaks volumes of the talent that he has. The contrast is startling as he averages just below 70 in the most testing format of the game. He had a couple of reasonable starts while batting in the Champions Trophy, but he was hampered by wickets falling around him as he failed to convert those 30s, 40s into a match winning innings. He is at a stage of his career where he needs to hit peak-form and play an integral role in South Africa’s vision for the 2014 World T20 and 2015 World Cup.