We must make a plan to keep our players, says Faf Du Plessis

Faf du Plessis has a sharp sense of humour and it didn't fail him as he left a press conference at Newlands on Thursday that, for the best part of 15 minutes, had nothing to do with the test series his team had just won.

South Africa had smashed Sri Lanka by 282 runs with more than five sessions to spare to clinch the rubber 2-0. But almost all the questions fired at Du Plessis were about Kyle Abbott's decision to sign a Kolpak deal.

So, as Du Plessis rose to take his leave, he enquired whether there was any interest about what he may have had in his mouth during his time on the field: "Anything on sweets?"

Last month's ball-tampering saga, in which Du Plessis was found guilty of illegally using mints to help him shine the ball during South Africa's series in Australia in November, seemed innocent by comparison.

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And partly because all present on Thursday knew Abbott wouldn't be the last South African to see his future beyond a foreign boundary.

"I suppose that creates an opportunity for us to learn from it and make sure that something like this doesn't happen too often," Du Plessis said. "You want to make sure Cricket South Africa keep their best players.

"You don't want to lose players going overseas. This is definitely a red flag to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"Foreign currency will always be there but we need to find a way. It's too important and too valuable to sit back and say whatever happens happens and there'll be enough players to fill the gaps.

"That's not good enough.

"We need to make sure that whatever we do, we do."

Predictably, transformation came in for another thrashing in the swamps of social media.

But, for Du Plessis, it was only "one of the factors".

"Opportunity, money, transformation - there's a lot of things that different guys will look at as their excuse or their reason for going overseas," he said. "What Kyle's reason is I'm not sure.

"But every single reason that is causing players to leave is a concern and we need to look at every single one of them.

"I can tell you directly [transformation's] not Kyle's reason for leaving. We've spoken about it and it's more the point of view of security and what the future holds. He's someone who has been not sure [of his place in the team] for a very long time.

"Possibly inside he just wants to be sure. We know Kyle and we respect him for what he's done for us as a team, and I respect his decision. I don't agree with it but I respect it."

Du Plessis will have to find a way to replace Abbott by Thursday, when the third test starts at the Wanderers.

The Knights' Duanne Olivier, the leading wicket-taker in franchise first-class cricket this season, has taken Abbott's place in the squad.

Wayne Parnell could also play at the Wanderers, where an all-pace attack would afford South Africa the chance to gauge their form.

In February, South Africa travel to New Zealand for a Twenty20, five one-day internationals and three tests. Then it's off to England for three one-dayers, the Champions Trophy, three Twenty20s and four tests.

Abbott has become an integral part of an attack that has overcome the loss to injury of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.

Now that balance has been destroyed.

"He's a massive loss," Du Plessis said. "With the injury to Dale he stepped in, and he was deserving of his chance.

"He waited for a long time to get it. And then he stepped into it like it was his own forever."

Forever is a long time; longer than it will take to recover from this and longer than the suits should need to figure out how to stop players from leaving. At least, we hope so.

2017 — season of Protea fire

The new year started with a bombshell - Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw's announcement that they were quitting international cricket - so here's our wish list for South African cricket in 2017.

•  No more Kolpak defectors. Abbott and Rossouw joined a long list that includes Hardus Viljoen, Simon Harmer and Stiaan van Zyl. We could do with a year or 10 of no-one giving up the chance to play for South Africa for a fistful of pounds;

•  An International Cricket Council trophy. It's not a World Cup year or a World Twenty20 year, but it is a Champions Trophy year. Thing is, will it, at long last, be South Africa's year?;

•  Big Three Bliksim. South Africans won't easily forget their team's test series triumph in Australia last year. The memory would be so much sweeter if they add the scalps of England and India to complete a clean sweep of the Big Three;

•  Super selectors. Linda Zondi and his panel had an exceptional 2016, blooding players such as Keshav Maharaj, Stephen Cook, Andile Phehlukwayo, Tabraiz Shamsi and Dwaine Pretorius at international level. Here's to more of their creative thinking; and

•  Many happy, healthy returns. Who knows how AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn are going to fit into the side when they recover from their elbow, shoulder problems, but we can only hope they stay healthy for the whole year and more. - TMG Digital