De Villiers quits international cricket

De Villiers quits international cricket

AB de Villiers, the charismatic South African batsman, announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket on Wednesday (May 23) in a video released via social media. 

Having recently returned home from the Indian Premier League campaign where he represented Royal Challengers Bangalore who finished sixth in the league table, de Villiers indicated in the video he shared on Twitter that he does not have any plans to play overseas currently, though he would try and play in the domestic level for Titans.  

AB de Villiers

✔@ABdeVilliers17

I’ve made a big decision today

4:46 PM – May 23, 2018

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Following a 14-year career that spanned 114 Tests, 228 One-Day Internationals, and 78 Twenty20 Internationals, de Villiers said the time was right for others to have a chance and that if he chose to wear the green and gold, it had to be for all formats or nothing.  

“This is a tough decision, I have thought long and hard about it and I’d like to retire while still playing decent cricket. After the fantastic series wins against India and Australia, now feels like the right time to step aside,” explained de Villiers.

The announcement came as a surprise considering the 34-year old committed himself to the Proteas when he gave up his One-Day International captaincy in order to reduce his burden and make himself available in all three formats. Before the series against India, de Villiers had gone on an extended break from the longest format of the game that was also forced due to a recurring elbow injury. 

In the video, de Villiers is refreshingly honest about the true reasons for the sudden decision to call it quits.

“After 114 Test matches, 228 ODI’s and 78 T20 Internationals, it is time for others to take over. I have had my turn, and to be honest, I am tired. It’s not about earning more somewhere else, it’s about running out of gas and feeling that it is the right time to move on. Everything comes to an end.”

It has been a long road for Mr. 360, as de Villiers was nicknamed for his versatile style of batting that saw him amass over 20,000 runs across all three formats in international cricket, representing South Africa – 8765 runs in Tests (average: 50.66), 9577 runs in ODIs (average: 53.50) and 1672 runs in T20Is (average: 26.12). 

Aside from this, he holds the record for the fastest 50 (16), 100 (31) and 150 (64) in ODIs and finishes his career ranked No.2 in the batting rankings in ODIs as well. He holds the second highest individual score in Tests among South African batsmen (278* against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, 2010) and is the fourth highest-run getter in South Africa in Tests. 

He began his career alongside Dale Steyn, making his debut in the first Test against England in December 2004 in Port Elizabeth and soon went on to become one of South Africa’s mainstays in all three formats, with the bat and the gloves when Mark Boucher was forced into retirement following a horrific eye injury in 2012. Soon after, Graeme Smith stepped down from the captaincy in ODIs and T20Is, handing it over to de Villiers who then passed on the T20I captaincy to Faf du Plessis. But a chronic back injury forced him to give up the keeping responsibilities to Quinton de Kock and by 2014, he had handed it over to de Kock in Tests as well. 

The Test captaincy eluded him after Hashim Amla was appointed Smith’s successor in 2014 but Amla giving up the captaincy mid-war during the series away in England saw de Villiers take over the reigns on a temporary basis and become permanent in January 2016 before giving it up to du Plessis the same year. He remained ODI captain until 2017 which saw his reign include a heart-breaking semifinal exit at the hands of New Zealand in the 2015 World Cup and a group stage exit in the 2017 Champions Trophy which prompted him to give up the ODI captaincy, to du Plessis again. 

Both Chris Nenzani, the Cricket South Africa President, and Thabang Moore, Acting Chief Executive, were full of praise for the contributions made by de Villiers to South African cricket and intimated that the game, both in South Africa and around the world, would definitely miss him.

“AB is one of the all-time greats of South African cricket who has thrilled spectators around the world with his sheer brilliance, coupled to his ability to innovate and take modern day batting in all three formats but particularly in the white ball ones to new levels,” said Nenzani, with Moore adding that his ability to play shots around the field, earning him the 360 degree moniker will remain unforgettable. 

“What is probably more important is the inspiration he has been to his team mates whether playing at international or domestic level and the wonderful role model he has been to all our aspiring youngsters. It goes without saying that he is going to be greatly missed wherever international cricket is played,”

Ball-tampering incident a reality check: Amla

Ball-tampering incident a reality check: Amla

Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, said Wednesday (March 28) that the controversy over ball-tampering in the third Test against Australia “gives every team in the world a reality check”.

Amla was responding to the bans imposed on Australia’s Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

He said that the events of Cape Town should lead cricketers to ask:

“What kind of cricket do you want to play? It has probably given the ICC a lot more headaches and the opportunity now is for the governing bodies to show us, where is this line?”

He was referring to frequent comments by Australian cricketers about the limits of acceptable behaviour and “not crossing the line”.

Amla said South Africa’s focus, ahead of Friday’s fourth and final Test, was on preparing to clinch a Test series which they lead 2-1.

“With all the distractions, there is not much we can do from our perspective,” he said.

“I am grateful that we are sitting in the South African change room without the shadows hanging over us. For us it is about the cricket. You’ve got to keep your focus as professional sportsmen.”

Mob rule – pandering to the gallery

Mob rule – pandering to the gallery

The three men were ushered into the public square, black hoods covering their faces. Their hands and feet had been chained, as befitting the perpetrators of great crimes. The mob that had gathered some time before and grown steadily angrier. It fed on its own anger to become even more furious.

“Punish them.”

“Hurt them.”

“We want vengeance.”

The authorities knew this was their chance to look good. The three had transgressed under their watch. How better to deflect any criticism of those doing the managing than by serving up those caught for public justice? Let the vultures of shrill outrage feed on the carcass of immediate action, fairness be damned. And protect the money coming in, at all costs. The bottom line was… the bottom line.

Three men had been determined guilty, their crime angered the public, there was fear that this anger could have negative consequences for the overall brand, once the public was angry it fed on its own fury to demand blood, authorities the world over were only too happy to satiate that demand. Pile on the punishment until the outrage is satisfied, the crime be damned, and the penalty matching the crime be doubly damned.

Today was to be the day of the sentencing. There was the blonde one, the stocky one, and the rookie.

The rookie had done the deed, the stocky one had planned it, the blonde one had allowed it to happen. Their crime was trying to cheat to win an unfair advantage in a game. Their punishment had nothing to do with the crime. The punishment was for how people reacted to them being caught doing it.

The three men looked like they had been space-rocketed to an alien civilisation because their lives suddenly didn’t seem to make sense anymore. They played a sport that had wink-wink-nudge-nudge allowed the sort of cheating they attempted for decades. They just did it very ineptly, and got caught. A significant part of the backlash they faced was because they had come to be regarded as ‘bullies’. But not just bullies, sanctimonious bullies who were happy to lecture other teams on appropriate behaviour. That backlash was understandable, and even to be expected.

What threw the three men off was the unrelenting nature of the hostility and its scale. It didn’t stop, and it wouldn’t stop. Its volume meant somebody had to not just do something, but be seen to be doing something. And that something had to be aimed at satisfying those who were going to fork out money, now and in the near future.

Among the baying public who each wanted their pound of flesh, there were two people who stood a little apart. One had a bored look on his face, the other had a puzzled one. The Cynic, for it was he who had the uninterested look, was merely watching dispassionately to record the event since it was of historic significance. The Cricketer was the one who looked confused.

“This is how it is,” the Cynic offered, trying to enlighten the Cricketer. “It’s not pretty and it’s not nice. It might not even seem fair. But when the proverbial waste hits the fan, it sticks more to some than others.”

The Cricketer was grateful for the wisdom, and decided to ask the Cynic about some more incongruous bits about the case that were troubling him. “This is a case of ball-tampering, yes? And all of these three men are batsmen?”

The Cynic nodded.

“Then how is that only these three were found guilty? Were they tampering the ball without the knowledge of the bowlers? If so, wouldn’t the bowlers have realised immediately that something was off when trying to bowl?”

The Cynic allowed himself a smile. “My boy, when there is a train rushing at full speed and you spot some people on the tracks, you have to make a split-second decision on whether you can save everyone or not. If you can’t, you best get those who you can extricate most easily out. The train will hit those left, but their chances of survival were slim anyway.”

“Just my luck,” thought the Cricketer. “I get one guy who looks like he could clear stuff up for me and he likes to use philosophical metaphors to explain things.”

Nevertheless, he persevered. “Alright, so even though it stretches belief that the bowlers didn’t know what was going on, they haven’t been caught or implicated in any manner and can thus escape. So why not do that. I get that. What about the coach?”

The Cynic almost laughed this time. “What about him?”

“Well, he was shown speaking on a walkie-talkie to the twelfth man immediately after the ball tampering footage was shown on screen, and the twelfth man then went into the field and had a word with the Rookie, who panicked and stuffed sandpaper down his trousers. So it looks like the coach had a say in the matter. How is he not punished?

“I know what you’ll say,” the Cricketer went on. “Maybe he didn’t know and after seeing the footage his natural response was to ask those in the dugout just what was going on. That is possible. But then it would mean the coach’s finger is so far off the pulse of his team that he could as well stick his fingers in his ears. If he knew about it, he needs the same punishment. If he didn’t know about it, is he really the coach you want?”

The Cynic did laugh then. “I will be very interested in what the suits offer as explanation for that one. If there is an explanation.”

The Cricketer seemed disturbed. “But that’s not fair then is it. Is this an exercise aimed at finding out the truth and setting an example so that no one cheats, or is it an exercise in ‘let’s mark down the culprits who couldn’t get away and throw the kitchen sink at them? People have tampered with the ball from grade cricket upwards since the game has been played. I know these guys got caught with their hands down their pants as it were, but they could have still barefaced their way out of this with lies. At least they owned up, which some legends of the game never did.”

The Cynic was amused. “It would seem to have been better for them if they had not owned up wouldn’t it? They might have saved themselves a lot of public pain. And certainly, if the public reaction had been more muted, there is no way the authorities would have come down as hard on them as they have.”

The Cricketer looked despondent. “I thought it was about cleaning the game up. I thought this was about making cricket a better sport. I thought it was about proving that the adage ‘it’s just not cricket’ still holds good.”

The Cynic turned. There was genuine bafflement on his face as he addressed the Cricketer. “What’s cricket got to do with a mob lynching?”

We missed the experience of the seniors, rues Gibson

We missed the experience of the seniors, rues Gibson

India’s terrific comeback in the limited-overs series – they clinched the One-Day International series (5-1) and Twenty20 International series (2-1) after a 1-2 loss in the Tests was an eye-opener for the South Africans.

But Ottis Gibson, South Africa’s head coach, who spoke to the media after India’s seven-run victory in the third T20I in Cape Town on Saturday (February 24), wasn’t too disturbed by the result.

“If you see, some of our guys got injured,” he said. “The new guys that came in, the level and the intensity they have had to perform is different from what they have been accustomed to and they haven’t stepped up to and haven’t been able to adapt quickly enough. We’ve seen some exciting new talent.

“We have seen exciting new players in the one-day series. Lungi (Ngidi) made a debut, Heinrich Klaasen made his debut and he has been excellent, Junior Dala in this T20I series was also very good, and we saw a little bit of Christiaan Jonker. He was very good,” he added. “Losing is not always very easy. But when you are missing so many of your seniors, and then some new people come in and put their names forward, the result can be hard to take. You obviously look at the future and the future, with some of the youngsters, seems like is going to be bright.”

AB de Villiers, one of the senior players missing in action, is expected to be back for the Test series against Australia, which should provide the South African camp with some confidence.

“Seniors in any team makes it stronger,” said Gibson. “Especially the seniors we have coming back in the team. It has been a massive loss without them being there. We all thought that AB’s body is better than what it was in ODIs. I hope he is somewhere near 100% and he can take place in his team. Even Dale Steyn is not far away again. So we missed the seniors in this series, no doubt about that. Having them back will give everybody a lift.”

Gibson also stressed on the importance of some of the players going back to the hard grind of domestic cricket to fix the few chinks in their armour.

“I think you remember before I got back, all the players were asked to play domestic cricket. So I am a big fan of strong domestic league or tournaments that will then produce better players for international cricket. If you have international cricketers not performing, then I’d think domestic cricket would be the place to go back and raise the standard of cricket so that it becomes a little bit better,” he said. “Those guys who haven’t performed in this series have done well in the past. They have been big players in the past and people can always be out of form – that is part of the spot. It is how you bounce back and the attitude that you have toward practicing and preparation that will help you to get back where you want to be and where you belong in terms of your form. So it is just about those guys being very clear in their minds of what exactly they want to do and I will help them along the way.”

Chris Morris, for instance, was one of the players who Gibson insisted would need to find his form by playing domestic cricket.

 

“He would go back to play some domestic cricket,” Gibson revealed. “There is the IPL, whenever it starts, I am not sure when it starts. But before that, he has got some domestic cricket to go which will help him get some consistency in his bowling. He is a match-winner. We had a conversation, myself and him. I am not telling you anything that I haven’t told him. So he just needs to find what type of bowler he wants to become and put practice in that and work in to become that person.”

Speaking on what was the main difference in the two camps, Gibson highlighted the lack of experience in South Africa’s camp in the limited-over games.

“Experience. India have got (Jasprit) Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, two very experienced players,” he pointed out. “We’ve got (Chris) Morris and Junior Dala, who is making his debut. The experience they have of playing not just for India but also playing three or four years of IPL cricket shows. Junior held his own very well, but Morris has got a lot of work to do.”

Looking ahead, Gibson said there would probably be different types of pitches laid out for the upcoming series against Australia.

“Well, it is a different opposition, so therefore, the sort of make-up of the team will be different,” he said. “We have to get to Durban and see what the wicket is going to be like. I think the last time we tried to speak to the groundsman, everybody knows what happened at the Wanderers. So we’ve left the groundsman to prepare the best possible pitches they can get this time and see what happens.”

The first Test between South Africa and Australia will be played in Durban from March 1.

Performance in South Africa will boost confidence, says Bhuvneshwar

Performance in South Africa will boost confidence, says Bhuvneshwar

A seven-run victory over South Africa in the third Twenty20 International in Cape Town on Saturday (February 24) completed a fairly successful tour for India. They wrapped up the T20I series 2-1 to go with the One-Day International series victory. Prior to the limited-overs leg of the tour, India had lost a tightly contested three-Test series 2-1.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who enjoyed tremendous success in the tour across formats, said the performance in South Africa gave the team confidence ahead of more overseas assignments in England and then Australia.

“This tour has been brilliant, especially the Tests. Yes we lost the series but it was all close,” he said. “It could have been 3-0, 2-1 whatever. We’re very confident going to England or Australia. We know we’ve done well in South Africa and we can do well in other countries, but we have to prepare well.”

Things could have perhaps been different in the Test series too, had Bhuvneshwar, India’s top performer in the first Test, not been dropped for the second, which India ended up losing. The allrounder though, was content with his and the team’s performance.

“I don’t want to be too greedy but we’re lucky to win two trophies,” he said. “I really don’t want to go back to Test matches and why I didn’t play (second Test). It’s all about team effort. That match, there were bowlers for those conditions. We’re happy with two trophies. Hopefully next time we come here and we’ll win all.”

While Bhuvneshwar was Player of the Series for his seven wickets in three games, the Player of the Match on Saturday was Suresh Raina. The left-hander made a 27-ball 43 batting at No. 3 and then bagged the wicket of David Miller.

The performance completed a decently successful comeback for him. He had scored of 15 and 31 in the first two games.

Raina, whose career is in a very different stage compared to Bhuvneshwar’s, yet again stressed the importance of the opportunity to play, and was grateful to Virat Kohli for giving him the No. 3 spot.

“I’ve worked really hard for the last two years. Each and every session in the gym, on the field, I was just hoping when I was going to play for India again,” he said. “God has been really kind, thanks to my wife, kid, they’ve really made me believe I can go there and wear the Indian jersey again. That’s what Indian team does. A lot of sacrifices you do for your life and at the same time you enjoy your cricket. I’ve worked really hard on my game as well as my mental toughness.

“When Team India wins, everything looks so nice. The way Virat led the side in the last 2.5 months, it showed he cares each and every person. Batting at No. 3 is big in T20 and he gave me the license to just go after the bowlers. He showed faith in me, at the same time I enjoyed batting with Shikhar (Dhawan). He made me more comfortable, at the other end he was just telling me to look to enjoy and express. That’s what we did in the first six overs. T20 cricket is a lot about the first six overs. You can put a lot of bowlers in the backfoot easily if you have wickets in hand.”

Now after a decent run in the T20Is, and with India facing middle-order batting woes in white-ball cricket, Raina was confident he will be back in the mix for ODIs soon ahead of the 2019 World Cup.

“(This series was) very important for me. From here, we’re going to play in Sri Lanka and then IPL,” he explained. “We have a lot of matches coming up. I was part of the World Cup 2011 and in my first World Cup, I got the trophy in my house. That’s an unbelievable feeling. Coming back to the one-day squad, I’ve done well at the No. 5 spot. It’s just a matter of couple more games and I can ensure that I will be there very soon.”