Faf du Plessis has admitted he would not be opposed to becoming South Africas permanent Test captain. Du Plessis is standing in for AB de Villiers, a long-time friend who is expected to return from an elbow injury for the Sri Lanka series in the home summer, and has racked up results that will make it difficult for his influence to be ignored.Under du Plessis, South Africa beat New Zealand in a Test series at home - their first since the disappointing summer of 2016-17 - and inflicted a first-ever 5-nil ODI series whitewash on Australia. They have also now won a third successive Test series in Australia, prompting calls for du Plessis to continue as captain.I would. Ive always said it. I love captaining. Its something I really enjoy doing, du Plessis said. Its important to make sure that with all the stuff we talk about our culture, as a captain you live that and lead from the front. I am enjoying it at the moment. However long it continues, I will always do it.Du Plessis has also received support from Ian Chappell. The captaincy has been terrific. South Africa would be well advised to keep Faf du Plessis on as captain because hes a guy that is buoyed by that responsibility, Chappell said.Since taking over, du Plessis has scored 217 runs at 43.40, only marginally more than his overall average of 41.28, but has looked a more confident batsmen. Du Plessis was dropped for the last Test of the 2015-16 summer against England after a run of poor form but returned in de Villiers place for the New Zealand series, and immediately showed the kind of determination and technique that he displayed in Australia four years ago. At the same time, Chappell also thinks du Plessis being retained in the role will free de Villiers up.Im not convinced AB de Villiers wants that responsibility I think he might be happy to see Faf keep the job. AB seems to put himself out in the field - mid-on, mid-off and those sort of positions - put him back in the slips because hes an unbelievable slip fielder. Not only do you retain a very good captain in Faf, you bring back a terrific batsman who doesnt have that responsibility on his shoulders and you get one of the best fielders in cricket in the slips. Win-win all round, he said.De Villiers does, in fact, have a strong desire to lead. He made public his disappointment when Hashim Amla was appointed ahead of him in 2014 and accepted the job temporarily when Amla stepped down in January this year. After two Tests as a stand-in captain, de Villiers was appointed full-time in February but has not had a chance to lead in a Test since then.He has given no indication of an intention to pass on the armband although he acknowledged du Plessis leadership skills during the first Test. Top captaincy by @faf1307, de Villiers tweeted. Once again, not much to say when a team performs like that! Pure class. #ProteaFire at its best!!! Enjoy the celebrations guys- Umlilooooooo.Although ruled out for the entire Australia tour, de Villiers told FIVE AA radio that he hoped to make himself available for the day-night Test in Adelaide. At the time, he was considering flying to Hobart to prepare during the second Test. De Villiers has not travelled to Australia and Russell Domingo, South Africas coach, confirmed he did not think de Villiers would play in the third Test. That will delay a decision South Africa will have to make about how to make room for de Villiers in their line-up. Ezequiel Garay Argentina Jersey .Y. - Free agent outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, fresh off winning the World Series with Boston, reached agreement with the rival New York Yankees on a seven-year contract worth about $153 million, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday night. Angel Di Maria Jersey . 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Javier Pastore Argentina Jersey . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. METAIRIE, La. -- Roman Harpers recent experience tells him it would be short-sighted for the Saints to succumb to pessimism this early in the season.The Saints are 0-2 for a third straight year, and the previous two campaigns didnt turn out well; New Orleans went 7-9 and missed the playoffs each time.But Harper spent his past two NFL seasons with another team -- defending NFC champion Carolina -- which has been among the leagues best since its seven-game winless streak in 2014.Going two straight months in Carolina my first year there without winning a game was very frustrating to me. I didnt understand it. I didnt accept it very well, Harper said, crediting Panthers coach Ron Rivera for doing a great job keeping everybody together.The Panthers won their final four regular season games of 2014 to win the NFC South, then opened last season on a 14-game winning streak, meaning they won 18 straight regular season games immediately after a stint in which theyd tied one and lost six straight.Now Harper, who returned this year to the club with which he began his career, hopes New Orleans can earn a tide-turning victory when its hosts NFC South Division rival Atlanta on Monday night. The Superdome is bound to be infused with energy and emotion for that game, when the Saints and their fans will mark the 10th anniversary of the renovated stadiums re-opening after Hurricane Katrina.If we got some kind of mojo or some kind of magic, its got to be this one, Harper said. So weve got to be desperate, man. Weve got to go out here and get this win. Winning just breeds confidence throughout a locker room and it breeds success.While the Saints margin for error is thinning, they havent been losing by much. The Raiders needed a late 2-point conversion to pull out a 35-34 victory in the Superdome in Week 1 and the New York Giants hit a field goal as time expired to beat visiting New Orleans 16-13 on Sunday.The Saints much-maligned, injury riddled defense looked its best in a while, producing three turnovers in New York while keep quarterback Eli Manning and the Giants offense out of the end zone. But this time, New Orleans normally prolific offense sputtered and the Saints were sunken by a blocked field goal attempt that the Giants returned for a touchdown.You have to learn how to not lose a game before you can ever learn how to win, Harper said. Those are the things andd growing pains that were going through right now, where were doing certain little things, where yesterday the blocked field goal cost us the game.dddddddddddd Other than that, we played pretty good.On defense, that is.Drew Brees and the Saints offense, which led the NFL with 507 yards in Week 1, finished with 288 at New York. Brees passed for one TD, down from four a week earlier. He still has not thrown an interception, making him the only QB since at least as far back as 1960 to be on an 0-2 team despite passing for five TDs without an interception during the first two weeks of the season.Weve gone down to the wire in two straight games and unfortunately come out on the losing end, Saints tight end Coby Fleener said. Hopefully we can not get discouraged by that and realize were one or two plays away.Heading into training camp, Saints coach Sean Payton emphasized the importance of trying to win preseason games to cultivate a competitive edge. He also said it would be important for his relatively young team to get off to a fast start in the regular season. Instead, the Saints havent yet won any preseason or regular season games.There is only one way to work yourself out of it, and its coming back and having a better week of preparation, Payton said Monday. I was encouraged with a lot of things that I saw on tape and yet discouraged in some areas. And in these days after here, we have to be brutally honest with ourselves, not only with the players but the coaches as well. We have to be better.Game notes Payton said after studying video of rookie Wil Lutzs blocked field goal in New York that the problem was the blocking along the right side of the line. He did not fault a play by name, but cited B-gap pressure between the guard Andrus Peat and tackle Terron Armstead. ... Payton said cornerback P.J. Williams, who was carted off the field Sunday and hospitalized to be evaluated for a possible concussion or spinal injury after taking a knee to the helmet, was traveling back to New Orleans on Monday afternoon. Payton said Williams was diagnosed with a concussion, but added that the news was otherwise positive, which is real encouraging.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and AP NFL Twitter feed: www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '