AB soon pushed the nerves aside
Before Wednesday‚ AB de Villiers had pulled an SA shirt of whatever format over his head 383 times.
That is enough‚ you would think‚ to take the edge off doing so for the 384th time. You would think wrong. “He was nervous‚” SA coach Russell Domingo said. “It was almost as though he was playing his debut. He was very edgy.
“It’s great — it shows how much it still means to perform.
“That’s exciting for us‚ because it’s almost like a bit of a rebirth for him after he’s had seven months off.”
In the broader sense, Wednesday’s match was the third T20 between SA and Sri Lanka at Newlands‚ and it came with its own importance as the series decider.
But the focus was squarely on De Villiers‚ who has been kept out of international cricket since June by an elbow injury.
De Villiers is never out of mind‚ even when he is out of sight‚ and his withdrawal last week from the Test series SA will play against New Zealand‚ England and Bangladesh in the coming months only served to disquiet his compatriots and sharpen the focus on him.
So perhaps he felt as if he needed a reason for South Africans to be cheerful about his return. He gave them exactly that by coming in at No 3 in the fifth over and scoring 63.
“He played the situation really well‚” Domingo said. “We always wanted him to have some time at the crease with the one-day series coming up.
“In my opinion he’s unbelievable in the last seven or eight overs if he can find himself set at that stage.
“He spent some time in the middle and we can focus all our energies on the one-day series.”
All of 59 minutes‚ in fact‚ in which De Villiers faced 44 balls‚ hit two fours and three sixes‚ and looked like he had never been away.
It was also the first time in six series — five of them played without De Villiers — that SA have finished on the wrong side of the equation‚ and they won 13 of the 16 games they played in his absence.
That is evidence SA have found ways not only to survive but to prosper despite the hole De Villiers’ absence leaves.
His performance on Wednesday reminded all that he remains a better player than most others in any team. Nevertheless‚ finding space for De Villiers‚ particularly in the more settled Test team — if and when he makes himself available in that format — looms as a challenge. /