Proteas face first task ahead of bumper home season

Faf du Plessis’s tenure as South Africa’s captain across all three formats comes to an anticipated start with the first Sunfoil Test match against Bangladesh starting at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom on Thursday. The captain says the series is an opportunity for the Proteas to ‘start afresh’, as he takes full reign alongside coach, Ottis Gibson. The Proteas will feature in a bumper home season this summer, with incoming tours against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, India and Australia headlining a spree of 23 International matches across the formats. For now, the challenge is Potchefstroom, which is geared up to play the perfect host for the Proteas in only the second Test match to be played at the venue. Multiply Titans captain, Aiden Markram, is set to become the 97th Test player to represent South Africa since re-admission when he partners with Dean Elgar at the top of the order. The 22-year-old has made remarkable strides at domestic level since leading South Africa U19 to World Cup glory in 2014, and currently averages 44.33 in 34 first-class matches with six hundreds and 11 fifties to his name. One aspect Du Plessis and the rest of the batsmen will be looking to improve on from last season is the conversion of starts into big hundreds. Dean Elgar scored the only century during the series against England, a glaring let down on a key performance area that has underpinned past batting success