MAY 2017 GQ.CO.ZA 59

SS ACT

South Africa’s

cricket

captain Faf du

Plessis is a

rare individual

• he’s a biker,
  a surfer,
  a hipster,
  and an
  unfl appable
  leader who’s
  turned his
  team into
  a winning unit

Words by Grant Shub

Photographs by Justin Polkey

rancois du Plessis is

one of a handful of

Proteas cricketers

who play in all three

formats of the game,

the dif erence is he captains the

Test and T20 teams. He has earned

plaudits for his leadership style and

won the hearts of many for staying

true to his principles. It’s a role he

appears to relish. A few days after

this interview he scored a career-

best 185 runs. He talks here about

how controversy galvanised the

Proteas into a winning unit, the

absence of his close friend AB de

Villiers from the Test arena, and his

individual sense of style. >>

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