BLAME THE PLAYERS, NOT THE COACH SAYS AB de Villiers
After suffering a shocking defeat against West Indies in the last league match of Tri-Series, AB de Villers came up strongly in the support of South African coach Russell Domingo. AB de Villiers said that the players should be blamed for this defeat not the coach. “He’s played a big role in all of our careers in the last four or five years. I’ve felt he’s done a fantastic job. It’s sad to see him under pressure. It’s definitely not the coaching staff. The coaching staff, there’s no doubt in my mind they’re the best in the world,” de Villiers said. “Unfortunately as players we let them down in this series. We had ample opportunity in a few games to knuckle down. We should have walked the first game we played. So it comes down to the players. The preparation was perfect. All the coaching staff did their jobs. It is sad to see Russell under pressure. It shouldn’t be that way. There are a few players who should be under pressure” de Villiers said.
AB de Villers also mentioned about his own poor performance in the series saying that, “I got in four out of five times and didn’t convert. That’s the first thing I will teach any youngster: convert your scores, make them big ones especially once you get to 20 or 30. There’s no reason for me to get out after that because I’m in and seeing the ball well. Four out of five times I didn’t do that,”. AB de Villers scored only 121 runs in the 6 games of the series at an average of 24.20. This is his worst batting average since an ODI series against India in 2010-11.
AB de Villiers also clarified about the decision to take Kagiso Rabada out of the attack early who had taken 3 wickets in his first three overs. He said that, “KG is a fit man, so maybe one more over. I thought we had four world-class seam bowlers in the attack, enough guys who can ask questions,” he explained. After KG’s spell I did try pretty much everything we had. Perhaps I could have bowled him for a few more overs. But you’ve also got to think of the rest of the game and not bowl your best bowler out in the first spell.”