Is No 4 spot best for AB?
AB de Villiers’s plan to bat at No 4 in SA’s one-day series against Sri Lanka starting in Colombo tomorrow is seen as a return to stability and orthodoxy for him after last season’s experimental approach.
But is entrenching De Villiers in that spot what SA need, considering he has a higher average at Nos 3 and 5, and has been successful as an opener?
“[ Former SA coach] Gary [Kirsten] liked to play the situation of a game as opposed to saying, ‘ you bat there’,” said Rob Walter, the Titans coach and, until May, SA’s conditioning expert.
“When you’re dealing with top quality cricketers that probably is a sensible way to do it, because you bat your best players in certain positions and AB is one of the best one-day players in the world.
“There are theories that you should give your best batsman the most number of balls but there are two sides to that story. If you expose him early and you end up three or four wickets down you have to rebuild. So, No 4 is probably the safest place because it allows him to fulfil most of the roles that the match situation will dictate.”
De Villiers has batted everywhere from the top of the order to No 6 in his 137 ODI innings.
In his 10 innings last season he popped up at No 4 seven times, No 3 twice and No 5 once. He has scored a century and seven half-centuries in his 36 innings as an opener, where his average is 31.66.