AB hits back at former Proteas
Proteas captain AB de Villiers has hit back at former national players who criticised the team after their 2-0 series defeat to England.
|||Cape Town - He has “no hard feelings”, but Proteas captain AB de Villiers has hit back at former national players who have criticised him and the team in the aftermath of their 2-0 series defeat to England.
Ex-captains Graeme Smith and Ashwell Prince have laid into the South African team in recent weeks, with Smith particularly vocal about the players and team management due to the lean run being experienced by Russell Domingo’s side.
They have remained winless over the last nine Tests, having lost five and drawn four. Their last victory was over the West Indies at Newlands in January 2015.
Smith said while working as an analyst on SuperSport that “some of the messages coming out in the press conferences don’t seem positive and it’s coming from senior players.
“You’re in a big series and there is a lot of negativity among your senior players. It looks like someone needs to grab the bull by the horns and say, ‘Listen guys, let’s wake up and let’s pull our finger out and let’s go and play some Test cricket’.”
The 34-year-old also had a go at the team management, saying that “they haven’t quite come into the equation of late. How is management getting the best out of them, how are they preparing them, are they directed in the right way, do they need to be firmer, do they need to be softer? I don’t know”.
Prince, who is also a national selector, questioned why De Villiers wasn’t providing clarity on his Test future. “I feel that it is very disappointing... the messages coming out in the media about AB not enjoying the game, about whether he is going to play, and how long is he going to play,” he said in an exclusive interview with Independent Media.
“And obviously that comment (De Villiers made after the Wanderers Test) that ‘all hope is gone’. If I was a young player in the team, I would be concerned about what the captain is saying. Does that mean he has no faith in me as a young player?”
De Villiers didn’t hold back during a press conference at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday when asked how he felt about the criticism.
“I honestly haven’t read any of the comments. I try to stay away from it. Look, the guy has got to do a job, that’s always the way I approached it. It’s funny because when I used to play with these guys – and I don’t want to mention names – they also always talked about the past players criticising, and that they can’t believe it and would never become like that!” the 31-year-old said.
“So, it is pretty funny and it shows you how quickly things change. But look, I’ve got no-one to blame. We haven’t won for a while and we deserve a bit of criticism. Look, there are no hard feelings, to be very honest with you. It’s disappointing, but no hard feelings. We’ve got to move on as a cricket team and try to win games of cricket.”
The world’s best batsman is right on that score. Win, and the critics will pipe down. That’s what the Proteas will hope to do when they take to the field on Friday in the fourth and final Test against England.
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ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@IndyCapeSport