AB: I wasn’t thinking about quitting Tests

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Cricket365
January 18, 2016

South Africa captain AB de Villiers has tried to get ahead of speculation that he will quit Test cricket after the current series against England, saying he is only looking to find some time to rest, not quit the format.

When De Villiers took over from Hashim Amla as skipper after the second Test, De Villiers said that he would be thinking about his future after this series, given the heavy workload he faces.

That was taken to mean he was thinking about quitting the longest format, but after his side's astonishing defeat in the third Test, and the subsequent series loss, he clarified what he meant.

De Villiers said: "I was never thinking of leaving Test cricket at all. I was just to find a way to rest a little bit throughout the year.

"Lots of thoughts have been crossing my mind but this [defeat] has got absolutely no influence on that.

"Playing on the cricket pitch has never been an issue for me, it's just a matter of keeping myself fresh. It's really tough to stay on top of your game if you play up to 12 months a year.

"I just have to try and find a balance to keep my fight going and keep that skill level up."

He then turned his attention to the fourth and final Test, and said the Proteas would be up for the challenge at Centurion, despite having lost the number one Test ranking. If they lose there too, they will drop to fourth place.

AB added: "I'm still the kind of guy that will get myself going for that last Test match, and get the team going. I felt we were in the game lots of times throughout the Test match and just didn't grab those opportunities.

"There were quite a few opportunities that we had throughout the match and one was in the first innings. We were getting a lot of partnerships going, a lot of guys got in (everyone reached double figures).

"There was a great opportunity to get 400-plus and we didn't take that. 400-plus on this wicket is very tough to play against. Unfortunately we missed that trick."