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De Villiers steps down as ODI captain, available for Tests

Posted: Wed Aug 23, 2017 11:26 pm
by jaybro
AB de Villiers has stepped down as South Africa's one-day captain but could return to Test cricket, having made himself available for all three formats from mid-October onwards following discussions with CSA.

De Villiers has not played Tests since the final match of the series against England in January 2016, shortly after he had taken over the captaincy from Hashim Amla. He was named full-time captain later that year, but an elbow injury kept him out of series against New Zealand and Australia, and then he made himself unavailable for the format.

He returned to international action in January with the one-day side and captained South Africa in the Champions Trophy but they were unable to make it out of the group stage.

"Faf du Plessis has proved to be an outstanding captain of the T20 and Test teams, and bearing this in mind, I have informed Cricket South Africa that I would like to step down as captain of the ODI team," de Villiers said. "It has been an honour to lead the team for the past six years, but it is now time for someone else to take the ODI side forward. Whoever is chosen as the new ODI captain will have my complete support.

"Following this recent break, I really do feel refreshed and revived. I want to get back on the field and I have today assured the national selectors that I will be available for selection in all three formats of the game during the coming season. There is plenty of hard work ahead in the nets and I must prepare properly, but I will be ready to play, if required, from the middle of October onwards."

De Villiers' timescale rules him out of the Test series against Bangladesh which begins at the end of September, which means his return to the longest format could come in the Boxing Day Test should CSA be able to arrange a fixture, or against India in the New Year.

"Over the past year or so, I have tried to manage many commitments," he said. "I have felt mentally and physically tired; my wife and I are bringing up two fantastic kids and playing in all three formats ever since 2004 has taken its toll.

"Together with Cricket South Africa, we have tried to develop a viable schedule which allows me to prolong my career for as long as possible."


De Villiers defended the way he has gone about his career over the past year, saying that playing for South Africa remains his top priority.

"This strategy has prompted some people to say I am picking and choosing when to play for the Proteas, and even to suggest I am somehow putting myself before the team. That is simply not true. That has never been true. Playing for South Africa is, and will always be, the greatest privilege of my life."

At the end of South Africa's recent tour of England - where they lost the series in all three formats - Test captain Faf du Plessis said he believed it was unlikely that de Villiers would return to Test cricket.

"I would love AB to play - we all know how good he is and we missed him, but we've spent too much time talking about when he is going to come back," he said. "The hope of him coming back is something we need to move past, we need to find someone else to fulfill that role. If AB comes back it's a huge bonus but I don't expect him to come back into the Test team."
He's one of my favourite players but AB has really handled this all wrong IMO, I think sports stars don't realise that the common man on the street will appreciate some honesty even if they don't agree with them. He's dragged this mess on for over 18 months now and he really should never have taken the captaincy of the test side because he clearly wasn't 100% committed.

This latest rubbish about returning to tests but not for the BD series is a total contradiction to his claim of not picking and choosing which matches he wants to play in.

In saying this the Proteas' test side is much better with him in it although I wonder how this will effect their lineup now with the quota in mind? They seem to want to play 5 bowlers so where does Bavuma fit in the side ?

They'll either have to sacrifice a bowler or drop Bavuma and open with the best black opener ??

BEST South African XI

Elgar
Cook
Amla
DuPlessis
AB DeVilliers
De Kock
Philander
Steyn
Rabada
Maharaj
Morkel

Re: De Villiers steps down as ODI captain, available for Tests

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:56 am
by sloandog
Just didn't want to snick off in England, simple as.

Shit on his part

Re: De Villiers steps down as ODI captain, available for Tests

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:50 am
by pariah
sloandog wrote:
Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:56 am
Just didn't want to snick off in England, simple as.

Shit on his part
There are very strong arguments(across races) stating that AB will have to open now(took a while for them to agree with me that AB must bat in the top 3 :D ). So in all likelihood it will be:

Elgar
AB/Cook/Markram
Amla
Bavuma
Faf(c)
TdB
QdK(wK)
Philander
Maharaj
Rabada
Steyn/Morkel
(With maybe TdB being dropped, and AB slotted in at 5/6. Except it won't be easy for them to ignore Ramela - especially after SvZ, Kuhn, Vilas and TdB flopped - who has impressed at every turn for the A side. He bats at 3, while Amla's form has been in decline in that position, and he previously insisted on batting at 4. Plus SA need another African batsman apart from Bavuma anyway - with Ramela and Zondo being the next best two.)

The Proteas have no conceded that Kallis has no replacement, and this business of trying to use two players to make up for him (batting all rounder and bowling allrounder) is affecting the team negatively as opposed to improving it. A Philander/Morris/Phehlukwayo/Pretorius at 7 is batting too high. Seven outright batting spots (including the keeper), makes things a bit easier to manage in terms of selection.

Re: De Villiers steps down as ODI captain, available for Tests

Posted: Thu Aug 31, 2017 10:29 pm
by jaybro
The problem with your side Hhm is that none of those batsman bowl so the pressure is heaped on the 4 bowlers. Dropping Duminy didn't help either he was a pretty good 5th bowler.

It will be interesting to see what they do, it will be hard to leave out Morkel after he was the best bowler in England but if Steyn and Philander are fit who gets left out ?