AB’s over-rate fine adds to SA’s woes

Things went from bad to worse for SA when captain AB de Villiers was fined for maintaining a slow over rate in the first oneday international against England in Leeds on Wednesday.

De Villiers and his team were shown up in all departments of a match England won by 72 runs.

SA will have the opportunity to put matters right in the second of the three matches, in Southampton on Saturday.

But the shadow of De Villiers’ indiscretion — it cost him 20% of his match fee — will linger because it guarantees a ban should he transgress again.

The International Cricket Council’s code of conduct reads, a “second offence in the same format of the game within 12 months” will incur “the imposition of a suspension for the immediately subsequent one international match in the same format of the game as that in which the offence occurred”.

De Villiers will not need reminding of all that‚ having been in the same situation after SA’s match against India at the 2015 World Cup.

He managed to stay on the right side of the regulations for the rest of the tournament. But he copped a two-match ban for a more serious over-rate problem in an ODI series against New Zealand in January 2013.

It will not sit well with South Africans who have high hopes for their team in June’s Champions Trophy that their captain and star batsman is a serial offender in a basic area of managing his team on the field.

Not that SA had a firm enough grip on any aspect of Wednesday’s match. England’s 339/6 is the highest total in the 39 ODIs played at Headingley‚ and SA were in the running only while Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis were at the crease.

Wednesday’s result does not erase the fact SA had won 14 of their previous 16 ODIs. But it does tell them what they know already: you’re only as good as your last game.