Faf to call on Biff for advice

Cape Town - Proteas captain Faf du Plessis says he will be drawing on as much expert opinion as possible ahead of the first Test against Australia in Perth on Thursday. 

Du Plessis has only captained the Proteas in two Test matches to date when he guided the side to a 1-0 win in the two-match series against New Zealand on home soil back in August. 

This, though, is the ultimate Test of his leadership as he continues to fill in for the injured AB de Villiers.

"The most important thing for me as a leader is to put your ego aside and ask and learn, because there is a lot of valuable information out there," said Du Plessis on the eve of the first Test. 

"I've spoken to AB. He's enjoying life in South Africa but he misses us." 

Du Plessis added that he was due to have a conversation with Graeme Smith, who orchestrated South Africa's famous series wins in Australia in 2008/09 and 2012/13. 

"I'm actually supposed to be speaking to Graeme a bit later just to try and get some ideas of how he did things when he was over here," Du Plessis confirmed.

"He was obviously a very successful captain so I'm looking forward to that conversation.

"It's important. There is a lot of valuable information in those two cricket brains (De Villiers and Smith).

"That’s the great thing about captaincy, I’ve found out that you never stop learning."

Play on Thursday gets underway at 04:30 (SA time).