Captaincy hindering performance of De Villiers
While AB de Villiers insists he enjoys the responsibility of captaincy, it is clearly affecting his performances as he became just the second South African captain to get a pair on day four of the fourth Test against England, in Centurion, on Monday.
Although De Villiers fell lbw to a viciously swinging delivery from England fast bowler James Anderson, it meant he became the first South African captain to go out for a pair in 114 years since Louis Tancred was out for a duck in both innings at the Oval in London in 1912.
It was also the third duck in a row for De Villiers since assuming the captaincy role in the third Test at the Wanderers where England won the match and the series with a game to spare.
It means the 36 runs De Villiers scored in the first innings of the Wanderers match, are the only runs he has made as captain of the Proteas since Hashim Amla relinquished the role after the New Year’s Test in Cape Town.
De Villiers, also the One Day International captain, has repeatedly stated he enjoys the job but his performances suggest otherwise.
De Villiers began the series against England in reasonable form with scores of 49 and 37 in a losing cause in the Boxing Day Test in Durban. De Villiers has also been repeatedly lumbered with the wicketkeeping duties, which in the past he said he would prefer to avoid. In that first Test in Durban, De Villiers again kept wicket. But that was when rumours emerged that the Proteas star batsman had been contemplating retirement. He later ‘clarified’ those murmurs as leaked comments to the media that he had in fact been considering managing his workload in all forms of the game in future.
At 31 years of age, he also reaffirmed his commitment to Test cricket for the Proteas. But Cricket SA (CSA) cannot compete financially with De Villiers’ IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore who help the player earn the vast majority of his money each year. So it would seem, ‘managing his workload’ would entail having his participation in the IPL high up on his list of priorities.
In the meantime, it appears another leader of the Proteas Test team is sorely needed and there may be an announcement from CSA on this matter in the near future. - ANA
(File photo: Gallo Images)