Du Plessis noted that there was a sombre atmosphere in the dressing room as soon as Duminy was carried in

A few days after South Africa batsman Jean Paul (JP) Duminy ruptured his Achilles tendon, his team-mates have come out of the shadows and paid tribute to their injured brother, saying that it was sad to see him sustain such a serious injury during the peak of his international career.

Before the start of the first Test at Brisbane, South African batsman Hashim Amla noted that Duminy’s fitness was that many more miles ahead of everyone else’s that he “should be at the Olympics”.

South Africa’s 12th man for the first Test, Faf du Plessis, stated that Duminy had looked in excellent form while batting in the nets.

“I told him, ‘you’re looking really good in the nets, you’re hitting the ball nicely and this is going to be the next series for you,'” du Plessis said.

Duminy tore his Achilles tendon after slipping during some post-match warmdown drills and had to be helped off the field by physiotherapist Brandon Jackson and bowling coach Allan Donald.

“I was sitting having some dinner and I just saw some guys carrying someone in, I went to see what happened and when I saw it was JP, I just got that cold, nauseous feeling. I am obviously close with JP and I don’t wish anything bad on anyone. I felt terrible. You could see it was quite serious, you could see on his face,” du Plessis said.

News of Duminy’s injury spread like wildfire throughout the media and social networking sites, which meant it was only a matter of time before his wife, Sue, found out about her husband.

She stated that her husband’s injury had been a “terrible accident” and that it had left them “absolutely devastated”.

Australia coach Mickey Arthur, who used to hold the same position in the Proteas camp a few years ago, noted that Duminy’s injury was “a tragedy” and also compared it to former South Africa batsman Ashwell Prince’s injury in 2008.

“Ashwell had an okay net and he wanted to have some time against the new ball. It was right at the back end of the net session and Makhaya wanted to bowl with the new ball and he hit Ashwell on the hand, the funny thing is, JP had actually said to me that morning he had dreamt that he made his Test debut in Perth and we all had a good laugh about it,” Arthur added.

When Prince was injured in 2008, Duminy was given the opportunity to make his Test debut and admitted that he had felt extremely uneasy about it, and now du Plessis will be able to experience the same thing Duminy went through four years ago.

When asked about it, du Plessis said: “I knew I would be next in line straight away because I know I am a replacement batter if something went wrong with one of the guys playing, the feeling was there that I am going to play in the next Test but it wasn’t a nice feeling, it was a bad feeling.”

Duminy has already had his Achilles tendon surgically repaired and is reported to be in good spirits after being visited by his team-mates in the hospital.

Duminy is expected to be out of action for up to six months and it could be only until the Champions Trophy, which is to be hosted by England in June next year, that he may make his international comeback.

Some cricket pundits believe that du Plessis may have the opportunity to cement his spot in the Test squad at the expense of Duminy, but Arthur backed Duminy to regain his spot when he returned.

“He will come back better and stronger, I’m sure,” Arthur said.