AB de Villiers now the one and only "AB"

[S.Kennedy]

Better to ditch the one day stuff a la A. Cook, Jimmy and Broady - although some of this was more the ECB. Tendulkar apparently resisted pleas to play in India's Twenty20 team.

 

[Spark]

You've just got to listen to his interviews about how passionate he is for SA and it's obvious there are legit reasons he's doing this.

You're kidding yourself if you think it's about money. Absolute nonsense.

Does anyone think it's about money? I assume people just think that he doesn't hold Tests as his priority and are disappointed by that.

 

[harsh.ag]

There are probably a multitude of reasons. If someone wants to play LOs only for a while, that's fine. AB takes on way too much pressure on himself in tests, that has been obvious for a long time. Maybe he thinks he can't handle that right now. Maybe he doesn't want to disturb a middle order which is in the process of developing into a solid one. Maybe he doesn't want Cook to be dropped from the side and that's what would happen if he came back. Not wanting to play tests isn't the end of. He's a person. There are other things in life.

 

[SeamUp]

I definitely think there is more to it than we know.

Jan 2016: AB says i am not enjoying cricket
Feb 2016: CSA appointed him full time test captain & AB said i am fully committed
Oct 2016:
AB says i am trying my best to recover in time to play in DN test at Adelaide
Dec 2016
AB says i am trying my best to recover in time for SL test series
Dec 12, 2016
AB stepped down as a test captain
Jan 12, 2017 at Johannesburg
AB to Pollock
"I am fully intend to play in first test against NZ in March"
Jan 17, 2017
AB on radio 702 at 9 am
"I am not retiring from Tests"
Jan 17, 2017 at 11 am
I am fit and will play 3rd T20 v SL & Odis series against SL & NZ but won't be available for Test series v NZ
Jan 18, 2017
AB says i won't be physically fit for ENG & BAN Test series, he knows he won't be fit for a series which starts after 6 months

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah, it's.... strange to say the least. The stuff he said about the WC semi and the selection fiasco surrounding it hit him really bad.

 

[S.Kennedy]

Why would you want to restrict yourself to one day shite when you have a Test series in England to look forward to. Both South Africa and English are strongish teams also (in those conditions) so it could be a gripping series. I just don't understand!

 

[Furball]

AB played 98 consecutive Test matches along with being a regular in the ODIs and T20 sides, so it's hardly like AB's back was keeping out of the game. And this injury now is to do with his elbow.

Border played 153 consecutive Tests, actually.

 

[Furball]

Does anyone think it's about money? I assume people just think that he doesn't hold Tests as his priority and are disappointed by that.

I think de Villiers has been told he only plays Tests if:

a) he opens
b) he keeps
c) he captains

The first 2 options probably aren't likely to be acceptable to de Villiers, as well as seeing a younger option dropped despite performing well over the last 6 months, option 3 sees his mate Faf unceremoniously booted from the side and it makes de Villiers look like a **** for stabbing his mate in the back.

There's simply no room in the XI for a 5th white player to play in the top 7. In a world where the South African XI was picked on merit, it would be Bavuma or Duminy who'd be making way, but South Africa need coloured (and particularly black) batting icons to inspire the next generation. Dropping a young black batsman for an ageing white batsman just goes completely against the whole transformation agenda.

De Villiers knows this. But he also knows that South African cricket is bigger than him. He's talented enough where he coukd just retire tomorrow and earn a fortune doing the T20 circuit - he doesn't need CSA. But CSA need him. They're currently losing young, talented white cricketers to England, New Zealand (and now possibly Australia, pretty sure there's a couple of kids coming through in Shield cricket of African origin). How much worse would that drain of talent be if AB de Villiers lifts the lid on what transformation means for white cricketers? How do you get talented white youngsters to stay in South Africa when AB de Villiers can't get a place in the Test side due to politics?

You can't. Hence de Villiers' weird public pronouncements. We need to believe that de Villiers not playing against New Zealand and England is entirely his own choice.

 

[DriveClub]

This is nothing else other than quotas and the SA political climate. Sorry to see him go like this. I have no doubt his injury is fine by now but he doesn't want to take away the spot of a deserving white player.

 

[S.Kennedy]

South African cricket is in the doldrums politically.

 

[Burgey]

Allan Border would never have subjected his people to this merry go round about playing or not playing.

 

[Daemon]

Does anyone think it's about money? I assume people just think that he doesn't hold Tests as his priority and are disappointed by that.

Pretty sure I've read posts here and in the SA selection thread about chasing the T20 $

 

[Dan]

Holy ****, could you imagine if he signs a Kolpak deal?

 

[Sarun]

De Villiers is in good demand for IPL (for seasons to come) and teams there will more likely to outbid any kolpak deal monetary wise.

 

[Dan]

Easy enough to get an IPL window written into a Kolpak deal tbf

 

[Marius]

I think de Villiers has been told he only plays Tests if:

a) he opens
b) he keeps
c) he captains

The first 2 options probably aren't likely to be acceptable to de Villiers, as well as seeing a younger option dropped despite performing well over the last 6 months, option 3 sees his mate Faf unceremoniously booted from the side and it makes de Villiers look like a **** for stabbing his mate in the back.

There's simply no room in the XI for a 5th white player to play in the top 7. In a world where the South African XI was picked on merit, it would be Bavuma or Duminy who'd be making way, but South Africa need coloured (and particularly black) batting icons to inspire the next generation. Dropping a young black batsman for an ageing white batsman just goes completely against the whole transformation agenda.

De Villiers knows this. But he also knows that South African cricket is bigger than him. He's talented enough where he coukd just retire tomorrow and earn a fortune doing the T20 circuit - he doesn't need CSA. But CSA need him. They're currently losing young, talented white cricketers to England, New Zealand (and now possibly Australia, pretty sure there's a couple of kids coming through in Shield cricket of African origin). How much worse would that drain of talent be if AB de Villiers lifts the lid on what transformation means for white cricketers? How do you get talented white youngsters to stay in South Africa when AB de Villiers can't get a place in the Test side due to politics?

You can't. Hence de Villiers' weird public pronouncements. We need to believe that de Villiers not playing against New Zealand and England is entirely his own choice.

They won't ask AB to keep, captain, or open.

No ways they'll drop Quinny and Faf was appointed as full-time captain of the Test side recently Also don't see him being asked to open.

 

[uvelocity]

why doesnt he go back to playing tennis or swimming. myth.

 

[Smudge]

why doesnt he go back to playing tennis or swimming. myth.

He has a big science expo coming up. Playing tests takes up too much time when he's trying to finish a photosynthesis diorama.

 

[Marius]

Holy ****, could you imagine if he signs a Kolpak deal?

I don't see that happening. I think he gets enough from the IPL that the Kolpak money isn't an issue. And one can question his Test commitment, but unless he's a very good liar it does seem his goal is to try for the World Cup again in 2019. That's also the impression I got from his autobiography.

 

[honestbharani]

Clarke barely missed any Tests because of his back though, and almost all of those were right at the end of his career. It's not quite a fair comparison. Say what you want for Clarke, but he did absolutely everything humanly possible to make sure he was available for Test matches, and Test matches strictly.

AB played 98 consecutive Test matches along with being a regular in the ODIs and T20 sides, so it's hardly like AB's back was keeping out of the game. And this injury now is to do with his elbow.

Right. The point with Clarke is that he missed tons and tons and tons of ODIs and T20s because of his back, but he almost never failed to get up for a Test match until the last part of his career. So you can't just point to Clarke as a reason for him missing Test matches, because the fact is that Clarke didn't.

You guys are missing my point. I mentioned he had a back condition which requires management long term in order to get himself fit to play cricket, any form of cricket, just like Michael Clarke had. Maybe since AB was a bit younger than Clarke he managed it better and also because he was such an amazing LO player, he played so many more ODIs and T20s than Clarke. But my comparison was just that he has a condition with his back similar to Clarke and he still went ahead and became a full time keeper to enable the team to play the extra batsman or bowler, as they did not really have a bowling all rounder and Kallis was in the autumn of his career. That shows how committed he is and has been towards RSA cricket. Its just stupid and silly to question his commitment to tests and RSA cricket at this point, when all signs seems to point to him taking this decision to ensure the team and combination is not disturbed for tests at least till the next home summer. And again, if that is really the reason, his stock has actually risen in my eyes as he is skipping games to ensure the team and mood within the team is not messed up, given the multi-farious challenges facing RSA cricket board, the management and the team itself.