South Africa's AB de Villiers warns ICC about future structure of worldwide game

AB de Villiers and Alastair Cook might approach the problem from vastly different positions, but the rival captains agree changes to the structure of international cricket are overdue.
South Africa's AB de Villiers.South Africa's AB de Villiers.
South Africa's AB de Villiers.

South Africa captain De Villiers is one of the most marketable white-ball cricketers in the world, and could easily earn a handsome living as a Twenty20 gun for hire; Cook is a Test specialist whose raison d’etre is grinding out runs in the traditional five-day format.

But as they prepared to go head to head in the third Test in Johannesburg, both men were forced to confront the thorny issue of how long cricket can survive without profound reform of its bloated calendar.

De Villiers’ answers were perhaps the most concerning.

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The 31-year-old will captain in a Test for the first time at the Wanderers but refused to commit himself beyond the end of the series, suggesting the conveyor belt of international duty and lucrative T20 leagues had dulled his passion for the game. There was speculation before Christmas that he was pondering retirement from Test cricket, and his response hardly quashed it.

“In most rumours there is always a little bit of truth,” he said. “There are big tournaments going on around the world at the moment and some of them you cannot ignore because financially they do make a huge difference in our lives.

“International cricket is the main one you want to play but one or two things will have to change in the future in order for that to happen.”

Cook does not subscribe to the doomsday scenario that Test matches will wither on the vine as the T20 bandwagon marches on, but does concur that the ICC need to re-evaluate their scheduling.

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“I don’t think Test cricket is going to die but there are certainly elements of it which you can improve,” he said.

“The people who run the game have got to know the responsibility is on their shoulders to look after it and try and push it forward the best way they can.”

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