Faf du Plessis

Francois "Faf" du Plessis (/ˈduːplɛˌsi/ DOO-ple-SEE; born 13 July 1984) is a South African cricketer and current T20I side captain.

He has played several matches at international level for the South African national cricket team. A right-handed middle order batsman who moved up to number 3 and also bowls part-time leg spin, du Plessis has played South African domestic cricket for Northerns and the Titans, as well as matches for Lancashire, the Chennai Super Kings, and the Melbourne Renegades.

He made his Test debut in November 2012, he became the fourth South African to score a Test century on debut. du Plessis was subsequently also named T20 captain of South Africa for the following Twenty20 series against New Zealand and confirmed full-time skipper in Feb 2013.

Domestic career

du Plessis was given a 6-month contract with Lancashire for the 2008 season starting in April as a Kolpak player after impressing the board with good performances in the local Nottinghamshire leagues for Mansfield Hosiery Mills Cricket Club and in the Lancashire League for Todmorden. Du Plessis started his Lancashire account by scoring 55 against Durham UCCE before being dismissed by opening bowler Foster. Following his six-month stint with Lancashire, du Plessis signed a new three-year deal with the club. Lancashire coach Mike Watkinson praised du Plessis' fielding, saying "if there's a better fielder in county cricket I've not seen him this season". In March 2010, it was announced that du Plessis would no longer be allowed to play for Lancashire as a Kolpak player after changes to the Kolpak rules. In 2011, he was signed by the 2010 IPL Champions Chennai Super Kings for US$120,000 at the Indian Premier League player auction.

Chennai Super Kings

The Chennai Super Kings (abbreviated as CSK) were a franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu that played in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2008, the team was captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and coached by Stephen Fleming. The team played its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The Super Kings was the most successful team in the IPL till 2015 reaching at least playoffs in every single season it has participated in with a win percentage of 60.68% and had won the title twice in succession (2010 and 2011). In 2010, they won the Champions League Twenty20 for the first time and repeated the feat in 2014. The leading run-scorer of the team is Suresh Raina, while the leading wicket-taker is Ravichandran Ashwin. The brand value of the Super Kings in 2015 was estimated at $67 million, making them the third most valuable franchise in the IPL. On 14 July 2015, the Supreme Court appointed RM Lodha committee suspended the owners of Chennai Super Kings from the Indian Premier League for a period of two years for alleged involvement in betting.

Bismarck du Plessis

Bismarck Wilhelm du Plessis (born 22 May 1984) is a South African rugby union player, who plays for South Africa internationally and for Montpellier in the French Top 14. He played for the Free State Cheetahs in 2003, before moving to Durban in 2005 to spend the bulk of his career at the Sharks.

Career

A native of the town of Bethlehem in the Free State province, Bismarck du Plessis made his debut for the Sharks in Super Rugby (then the Super 12) in 2005. As he plays hooker and played in the same team as South Africa's past captain, John Smit, for much of his career he had been a backup to Smit; however, this changed when Smit moved to tighthead prop. Before Smit's change of position, Du Plessis nonetheless played in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup whenever Smit was unavailable, and in 2007 was selected to play for South Africa in the Tri Nations Series. He made his debut for South Africa as a substitute in the same game against Australia in Sydney in which his older brother, Jannie, who was in the starting XV, also made his Springboks debut. The Du Plessis brothers became the 23rd set of brothers to earn caps for South Africa at rugby union.