AB expected to retire from Tests.

[Sooda]

12 hours ago, Tendu_10 said:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/story/1106290.html

 

big fan of AB the player but hes a coward. for so long he coasted by in Tests hiding behind Amla Smith n Kallis now when RSA need him he has ran away.

 

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He has more than enough great innings in his own right to rank alongside those three, if not even ahead of them

 

AsI said above,

 

This is a guy who almost played a 100 consecutive tests and some of them as wkeeper for the sake of his team.

 

Even  fielding against England in the T20 he was clutching his elbow in pain. He knows he won't be effective anymore in tests.

 

We're so used to our Stars playing well past their sell by dates that seeing a legend step down for a younger player is a shock

 

[Scar]

The people who claim him as an ATG in test conveniently forget that ATG are not formed on basis of stats but on basis of impact too. He lacked serious impact in test cricket regardless of what these otiose numbers tells us.

[Sooda]

Old but relevant, stat analysis of abdv in Tests:

 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.sportskeeda.com/amp/cricket/ab-de-villiers-in-tests-statistical-analysis

 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.sportskeeda.com/amp/cricket/ab-de-villiers-in-tests-statistical-analysis

 

 

Career Summary

Ever since the first Test against England in Lord’s in 2008, the match that turned around his career, AB has been revelation for the Proteas and has been the mainstay of their batting lineup across all formats.

Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100’s	50’s
101	7779	278*	51.51	21	38

Only 35 batsmen in the history of Test cricket have managed to average over 50 in Test matches having played at least 25 matches. de Villiers’ career average of 51.51 is also the 25th best aggregate in the history of Test cricket.

Against top the top 7 Test playing nations:

	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100’s
v Australia	20	1641	169	48.26	5	9
v England	16	1183	174	45.50	2	6
v India	16	1038	217*	39.92	3	4
v New Zealand	10	546	97	39	0	5
v Pakistan	12	1112	278*	65.41	4	3
v Sri Lanka	7	691	160*	62.81	1	5
v West Indies	13	1347	178	84.18	6	5

~ de Villiers averages over 39 against all Test playing notions hereby bearing testimony to the fact that he hasn’t really struggled against any side.

~ de Villiers has scored a century against all the nations apart from New Zealand against whom his highest score is 97. 

Test record away from home

Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100’s	50’s	Difference of overall and away average
47	3892	217*	55.60	9	18	4.09

~ AB has a more impressive record away from home averaging 55.60. His overall average of 51.51 is lesser than his average away from home bearing testimony to the fact that de Villiers is at ease in playing conditions outside South African territory.

Away from Home against the Top 7 Test playing nations

	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100’s	50’s
in Australia	9	671	169	44.73	2	4
in England	7	545	174	54.50	1	1
in India	8	545	217*	45.41	1	3
in New Zealand	3	218	83	43.60	0	2
in Pakistan	2	131	77	43.66	0	1
in Sri Lanka	4	338	95	42.25	0	3
in West Indies	7	790	178	87.77	3	3
in UAE (v Pakistan)	4	581	278*	116.20	2	1
in Asia (UAE, Pak, SL, Ind)	18	1595	278*	56.96	3	8

A lot of talk over the past few weeks has ensued over de Villiers’ lack of ability against spin. Can someone average over 115 in the UAE against Pakistan, arguably the best spinning line up in the sub-continent in the past decade if he isn’t comfortable against spin? Or average over 56 in Asia against all 3 nations?

~ He averages over 42 away from home at all venues.

~ He has a century in each country where he has played at least 5 test matches

Is the consistency and versatility still lacking?

Inning wise analysis

	Innings	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100’s	50’s
1st Innings	47	2423	278*	55.06	7	10
2nd Innings	53	2893	217*	57.86	9	15
3rd Innings	37	1436	169	44.87	3	7
4th Innings	30	1027	106*	41.08	2	6

Yet another testament to his completeness in Test cricket is that he has never really struggled batting first or second in Tests, averaging over 40 regardless of which innings he has batted in.

Over the years

Year	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	100’s	50’s
2004	2	108	52*	36	0	1
2005	11	1008	178	53.05	3	5
2006	11	570	97	27.14	0	4
2007	9	387	77	27.64	0	3
2008	15	1061	217*	58.94	4	2
2009	6	572	163	57.20	2	4
2010	11	996	278*	76.61	3	4
2011	5	377	99	47.12	0	4
2012	10	815	169	58.21	2	2
2013	9	933	164	77.75	4	5
2014	8	631	152	48.53	2	2
2015	4	321	148	53.50	1	2

~ Barring his initial years, de Villiers has never averaged below 47 in any calendar year since 2009.

AB trivia

~ de Villiers has never been dropped from the South African side since making his debut.

~ He has played 98 consecutive Test matches since his debut, a World record.

~ He has batted in all positions from 1 to 8 in Test cricket.

~ He once held the record for the highest individual score by a South African, only to be broken by his teammate Hashim Amla.

~ He the rather unique record of playing the most innings without a duck since his debut in Test cricket. Between December 2004 and November 2008, de Villiers played 78 Test innings and was off the mark every single time, before the 2nd Test of the 2008-09 series against Bangladesh.

~ He also was the first South African to register a double ton against India, a feat he achieved on Indian soil.

~ He once scored 33 runs of 220 balls to help his side secure an improbable draw.

~ His career best rating of 935 points is the 11th best overall in the history of Test cricket.

So let us ask ourselves once again, is de Villiers 

[Sooda]

5 minutes ago, Scar said:

The people who claim him as an ATG in test conveniently forget that ATG are not formed on basis of stats but on basis of impact too. He lacked serious impact in test cricket regardless of what these otiose numbers tells us.

So his century chasing 400 in Australia was totally un-impactful

[Scar]

9 minutes ago, Sooda said:

So his century chasing400 in Australia was totally un-impactful

Can you please guide me to the match link as the equivocalness in the post is confusing. 

[AmreekanDesi]

AB has not played one innings of note outside SA in test cricket which led to a SA win

 

sure he has runs but they were always on the back of the platform laid by others and weren't the match winning effort 

[Tendu_10]

The people who claim him as an ATG in test conveniently forget that ATG are not formed on basis of stats but on basis of impact too. He lacked serious impact in test cricket regardless of what these otiose numbers tells us.

exactly he doesnt enough impactful knocks to be defined as an ATG. A Lot of soft runs in there after likes of Smith Amla Kallis laid the platform for him.

 

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[SK_IH]

14 minutes ago, Tendu_10 said:

exactly he doesnt enough impactful knocks to be defined as an ATG. A Lot of soft runs in there after likes of Smith Amla Kallis laid the platform for him.

 

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i think smith is their most underrated batsman,great opener

[Tendu_10]

i think smith is their most underrated batsman,great opener

 

smith was underrated because he doesnt play 360 shots like AB. He was much more clutch in Tests than AB and was a great captain.

 

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[Vijy]

5 hours ago, Tendu_10 said:

 

smith was underrated because he doesnt play 360 shots like AB. He was much more clutch in Tests than AB and was a great captain.

 

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Smith was more inconsistent than ABDV, which is usually characteristic of most openers. But, he played many memorable knocks, esp in the 4th innings.

[Tendu_10]

Smith was more inconsistent than ABDV, which is usually characteristic of most openers. But, he played many memorable knocks, esp in the 4th innings.

 

smith had to play the new ball on a lot of seam friendly wickets. its why being a test opener is the toughest job for a batsman. Cook has a lot more impactful knocks than AB in Test Cricket.

 

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[Vijy]

Just now, Tendu_10 said:

 

smith had to play the new ball on a lot of seam friendly wickets. its why being a test opener is the toughest job for a batsman. Cook has a lot more impactful knocks than AB in Test Cricket.

 

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True. It's very rare to see openers averaging >50 in general. Not many achieved this since the 1980s.

[Sooda]

23 hours ago, Scar said:

Can you please guide me to the match link as the equivocalness in the post is confusing. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/australia/3882883/South-Africa-floor-Australia-with-record-run-chase-in-Perth.html

 

 

[Sooda]

23 hours ago, AmreekanDesi said:

AB has not played one innings of note outside SA in test cricket which led to a SA win

 

sure he has runs but they were always on the back of the platform laid by others and weren't the match winning effort 

Sure?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/australia/3882883/South-Africa-floor-Australia-with-record-run-chase-in-Perth.html

 

[Scar]

It's good you have pointed it out, now pray tell me where is the impact?

5 batsman out of top 6 scored 50+ score on a belter of a pitch. If anything impact wise Smith's century several notches ahead as he set the tone for that chase by scoring a century at 73 SR while other batsman were striking at ~50 SR.

1 hour ago, Sooda said:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/australia/3882883/South-Africa-floor-Australia-with-record-run-chase-in-Perth.html

 

 

 

[Rasgulla]

Class player who took cricket to way new level.. i don't know if anyone can replicate his 360 shots

 

Hope he doesn't but if he does he should also give up captaincyand play as a player... One thing i don't like about him 

 

Fap is ready and proved already 

[sandeep]

Coward may be unfair, but he's definitely selfish.  Always has been.  

[Sooda]

14 hours ago, sandeep said:

Coward may be unfair, but he's definitely selfish.  Always has been.  

how do you mean?

[SK_IH]

On 6/28/2017 at 2:04 AM, Vilander said:

[sandeep]

8 hours ago, Sooda said:

how do you mean?

So many ways and times he has put himself ahead of the team.  Made Hashim Amla give up the captaincy by publicly campaigning for it.   Clung on to captaincy even when it was clear as day that Faf is by far the better option - Gave it up in test cricket when it was apparent that he was losing popularity points, but still stubbornly held on to it in ODIs.  Even after the CT debacle, he went public with his desire to stay on as captain.    Picks and chooses games he plays in, regardless of team needs.    Countless examples.  

 

AB the batsman is a talented freak show, and I respect his abilities and skill.  Very few can do what he does.  But as a cricketer, I don't respect the guy.