AB wants to regain his mojo

You might not have noticed‚ with everything else going on‚ but SA start a series on their tour of England on Wednesday.

It is the T20 rubber‚ which kicks off in Southampton before moving to Taunton on Friday and ending in Cardiff on Sunday. That is as short and sharp as these things get; an afterthought in a summer that has yet to reach its most important stage: July’s four Tests.

If there is any relevance to the T20s it will be to see how AB de Villiers fares after his underwhelming performance in the Champions Trophy. He is again SA’s key batsman — even more so than in the one-day squad — and their captain.

He will want to improve on the 20 runs he scored in three innings‚ not to mention presiding over two losses in three games‚ in the Champions Trophy. In the third‚ a crunch encounter against India at The Oval last Sunday‚ De Villiers was run out after looking good for his 16‚ precipitating a collapse of eight wickets for 51 runs.

“I felt like I was going to get 200 off five balls‚ and I got run out‚” he said.

De Villiers said the South Africans had endured “a tough few days … after being knocked out‚ to go through that stage of reflecting and getting some of the criticism”. But he has moved on. “It’s never easy but I’ve always been the kind of guy to see the positive in that and the opportunity to improve.

“These three matches give me that opportunity as a player and as a captain‚” he said.

“I just want to score some runs again and captain the team to a few good wins‚ hopefully.”

The Champions Trophy was another in a long line of failures for SA’s fans‚ but they shouldn’t expect De Villiers to dwell on it like they might.

“I’m past that stage of harping on it for a long time‚” De Villiers said.