AB struggles to field questions about his future out of the park

It would have been impossible to imagine anything more unlikely before the Proteas started their tour of the UK in the middle of May, but AB de Villiers departed these shores with his reputation as a batsman dented and more confusion about his future every time he tried to clarify it.

If “genius” makes one an eccentric, then he’s always been slightly off the wall. But it is his recent inability to explain himself and a tendency towards contradiction that has left even those who have been around for his entire career shaking their heads in confusion. Mind you, nobody asks questions in quite the same way as the British media, so he has been a little irritated.

On at least eight occasions over the past 18 months, he has referred to the need for him to manage his workload.

Then, last week, he declared: “It has never been about managing my workload.”

There is a simple explanation. It was never about his “physical” workload. But De Villiers trusts neither himself nor his audience to deliver or comprehend that by “workload” he meant the emotional and psychological toll the game takes on its long-term players.

Here in England, it is very different. Led by Marcus Trescothick a decade ago and since followed by a dozen more players who have either retired or semiretired because of the strain of being away from home for extended periods, there is now a professional understanding and sympathy towards players whose relationship with the game is strained.

With De Villiers there is much else besides, and practical issues are clearly on his mind. It might be wiser for him to say nothing but that is not his nature. Anyway, it is part of his job as captain to answer questions.

But his answers have become more muddled and confused the more he has supplied them. In his last media conference before returning home, he said: “I alluded to the fact that I was going to meet Cricket SA somewhere around August … and we’re going to have a nice chat about my future, which we haven’t decided on yet.

“I’m not going to pick and choose games. We’re going to make a final decision on what’s lying ahead for the next couple of years.

“I can’t plan too far ahead because of physical fitness and a few other factors that play a role in my career and my life, so for the next few months just a bit of time off with the family to welcome my new youngster into the world — those are the kinds of things I look forward to — and then we’ll have a look in August.

“I’ll obviously stay fit in the next few months and make sure I’m ready come September, when Bangladesh come visit us.

“It is my main dream to win a World Cup for SA and to be a part of it one way or another. There are quite a few things changing in South African cricket at the moment and quite a few things we need to wait for before we can, well, I don’t even think it’s in my hands what’s going to happen in the next few years, so I’ll wait until August when the final decisions on coaching staff and all of that are made and then I’ll have a chat to Cricket SA to see where I’m going to fit in.”

It was clear that he was upset by the conjecture that accompanied him throughout the six weeks that he was in England. He was prickly about use of the term “picking and choosing” his games, although, to be fair, that is exactly what he has been doing.

He has not done so with arrogance or disrespect; he has done so out of a desire to stay mentally healthy and in love with the game.

He does not have faith in his audience to understand, never mind sympathise, with his need to spend time away from the game and lifestyle that has consumed his entire adult life.

Yes, cricket has given him a great deal, including unimaginable wealth, but it has taken a great deal, too. Let’s hope those talks go well. We should all hope they do.