AB’s Vern, Kyle row agony

AB DE VILLIERS admitted he was surprised by the reaction to his chapter on the 2015 Cricket World Cup and specifically the controversy regarding the team’s selection before the semi-final against New Zealand in Auckland.

De Villiers points out there was a last-minute change to the starting XI with Vernon Philander replacing the in-form Kyle Abbott, and, despite anguish on his part, he still felt the team he led on to the field at Eden Park was good enough to win the match.

Although he describes in AB – The Autobiography, released this week, that he was unable to sleep the night before the match, needing reassurance from former coach Gary Kirsten, De Villiers sought to back-pedal from the controversy.

“The night before the semifinal… there are so many controversial stories… I walked into the team meeting that night and felt we could win the World Cup and that is all that matters,” he said at the launch.

“I walked on to the field the next day and felt we could win the World Cup. We got ourselves into a great position to win the World Cup, but we didn’t take our chances at the right time.”

In the book, De Villiers describes how half an hour before the team meeting ahead of the semi-final against New Zealand, he was informed Philander would play instead of Abbott, who, having replaced an injured Philander earlier in the tournament, had been one of the star players for the Proteas.

De Villiers writes that he felt the team would be unchanged from the one that blitzed Sri Lanka in the quarter-finals, and that the late change was something he didn’t understand at the time.

This week, De Villiers described the drama as merely “obstacles” which he’d told the team before the tournament they’d have to deal with.

“I didn’t get my way (with team selection) on that specific day. But I had full confidence in the team.

“As heartbreaking as that is and was, it is over now… so to the next one and hopefully we’ve inspired the younger generation to go and do it. Hopefully I’ll be there in 2019, to lift it myself.”

De Villiers said he hopes youngsters can draw inspiration from the book, which details how he learnt the game in the backyard, playing with his brothers, and the growth he undertook even after breaking into the national side as a 20-year-old in 2004.

“It is the biggest privilege in the world to represent South Africa,” he said.

AB – The Autobiography is published by Pan Macmillan. It is available online and at all leading bookstores. Price: R358