A directional crack growth criterion in a compressed elastic perfectly plastic material is considered. The conditions at the crack-tip are evaluated for a straight stationary crack with a small incipient kink. Remote load is a combined hydrostatic pressure and pure shear applied via a boundary layer. Crack surfaces in contact are assumed to develop homogenous Coulomb friction. The crack opening displacement of an extended kink is examined in a finite element analysis to judge the risk of opening mode failure. It has been found that the direction that maximizes the crack opening displacement of an extended kink tip coincides very well with a prediction of the crack growth direction obtained by using a criterion for continued crack growth direction discussed by the authors elsewhere [Int. J. Fract. 108 (2001) 351]. Moreover, the by the model predicted incipient crack growth directions are qualitatively comparable with reported crack paths obtained in ductile materials in a limited number of experiments performed under a combined load of in-plane shear and compression.