Cricket

Former Proteas star slams ‘ego maniac’ Faf du Plessis

Last yr, former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis launched his autobiography Faf: Through Fire, through which he recalled the day Daryll Cullinan allegedly instructed him to “take your bag and f**k off!” when he had simply fashioned a part of the Titans workforce as a junior.

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Cullinan later refuted this model of occasions, whereas in a wide-ranging interview on The Cricket Nomad podcast earlier this week, he hit out Du Plessis for the style through which his friendship with former schoolboy good friend and Proteas star AB de Villiers had deteriorated.

“He’s had a good career. I’ve been a big fan of his cricket, so it kind of took me by surprise (what he said in his book). One would have thought he would have taken a bit more of a dignified approach … even his approach to (Mark) Boucher and (Graeme) Smith …” Cullinan stated.

“And one of many worst-kept secrets and techniques on the earth of cricket is the contempt and the poor relationship he has with AB (de Villiers). They’re not pals. Faf threw AB below the bus at college nonetheless. My opinion is that he labored AB out as captain and my opinion is that I feel AB wouldn’t come again if Faf was captain. Faf portrayed this friendship, there’s no friendship there. That’s one of many worst-kept secrets and techniques. 

“The way he has gone about it (writing the book) has been poor, he’s been poorly advised and he’s just been on an ego trip.”

ALSO READ: Former Proteas star Daryll Cullinan reveals shock most cancers scare

YOU CAN WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH THE FORMER PROTEAS BATSMAN BELOW:

ALSO READ: Proteas star says coping with ‘noise’ comes with the job

Here is how Faf described the incident involving Cullinan:

Shortly after I completed college, the then provincial groups merged to type franchises. Northern Titans and Easterns merged and Dave Nosworthy was appointed as coach and Daryll Cullinan as captain.

The new workforce included established gamers comparable to Daryll, Albie Morkel, André Nel and Zander de Bruyn.

It affected my place within the rating and it might be tough to get a spot within the beginning XI.

Fortunately, the franchise had excessive hopes for me: The older gamers began calling my identify and I used to be included within the group because the rookie, which made me signal a rookie contract.

During our first sport at Centurion Park, about 15 gamers met within the dressing room for Nos to welcome us to this new surroundings.

I used to be stunned after I noticed Daryll sitting there. Here I’m, a rookie and I share a dressing room with some of the proficient batsmen of his technology. I resolved to do the whole lot in my energy to study as a lot as potential from him. I knew I must earn my place within the beginning XI, however the presence of this Protea legend made the merger an unimaginable alternative for me to develop.

ALSO READ: Proteas star says coping with ‘noise’ comes with the job

I took my cricket bag and sat subsequent to him. As I used to be taught at Affies, I greeted him with a respectful “hello, sir”.

Nos joined us and began giving a generic speech: “Welcome, everyone. Everything is new and we will all need time to get used to it, but let’s make the most of this opportunity. Team selections will be difficult, but …”

I wasn’t actually paying consideration. I used to be sitting subsequent to one in all my heroes.

Then, a couple of minutes into the speech, Daryll raised his hand and instructed the coach to close up. Then he turned to me: “What the f**k are you doing next to me? Why the f**k are you sitting here?”

The dressing room fell lifeless silent. Nos tried to brush off this interruption and continued speaking. But after a minute or so, Daryll interrupted once more: “No, stop.”

He then turned to me: “Youngster, take your bag and f**okay off! Jacques Rudolph is a Test participant, and he’s not even sitting subsequent to me. He sits on a chair, however you sit on a f**king couch.

I froze.”Take your bag and sit within the bathtub,” he continued to scold. “You don’t deserve to sit here.”

Jacques replied that he didn’t thoughts sitting on a chair, however that solely made the awkwardness worse. I hung my head in disgrace.

In a matter of moments, the idol from my childhood went from hero to zero. I misplaced all respect and admiration for him.

That day I resolved by no means to talk to anybody or act the way in which he had simply accomplished to me and I stored that promise after I grew to become Protea captain. Fortunately, this sort of conduct was not a part of the Protea surroundings I used to be launched to below Graeme Smith’s management.

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