New Proteas Captain AB de Villiers Vows to Lead by Example

AB de Villiers has vowed to lead by example as he takes over the captaincy of the Proteas for the remainder of the Sunfoil Test series against England, after Hashim Amla stepped down last week.

He also revealed that part of Test cricket is to make the opponents feel uncomfortable – “to remind them that they are away from home, and not have them enjoying the Pound and Rand currency going on at the moment too much!”

The South African cricket team goes into their third test of the series today, Thursday, in Johannesburg in a must-win situation.

England is leading 1-0 after winning the first Test match (at Kingsmead Durban), and drawing the second (at Newlands in Cape Town). So SA needs to win in Joburg and Pretoria to win the Basil D’Oliveira trophy.

Thirty-one-year-old De Villiers is the 34th player to captain the Test side. He has previously captained 76 One-Day Internationals and 15 T20 Internationals.

In a press conference with the media on Wednesday afternoon De Villiers said he’s committed to SA cricket and is hungry to win the next two matches.

Some of his quotes included:

• “It’s a huge honour and privilege to get the title and to captain my country, especially at Test level…I’m very excited, but everything still feels normal to me…but I think tomorrow a few butterflies will be going around, which is the same with every Test I play. I know it comes with a lot of responsibility and hopefully I will live up to that.”
• “I’m a very competitive person, I truly hate losing.”
• “There will be a big focus on winning, lots of energy and I like to lead by example. It makes my job a lot easier when I go out there and do things the way that I want the team to follow. I will try and lead by example; score the runs, throw my body around the field and do the hard yards, I then believe that the team will follow.”
• “I believe there was a bit of a momentum shift in the last Test match [which is] a big thing in a series like this. It’s up to us to make sure we maintain that momentum going into this Test match.”
• “There is a nice energy in the team, Hashim (Amla) led the team exceptionally well, but there will be a fresh vibe, I’m more of an energetic guy so hopefully that kind of energy will be useful in the next two Test matches.”
• “[Wanderers] may be a touch drier than normal because we haven’t had a lot of rain in the last few months but there is always a good contest between bat and ball at this ground, that excites me.”
• “I’ve never been the kind to throw a lot of words around or to sledge…but I like to have good body language and for the team to have good body language, and to be in their [England’s] face in that way and to really make them feel uncomfortable. To remind them that they are away from home and not have them enjoying the Pound and the Rand currency going on at the moment too much! Try and make them uncomfortable a little…that’s the way Test cricket should be played…”
• “Losing is not an option. We’re here to win the series and that’s all I’m focusing on at the moment.”
• “My focus is on international cricket and I want to play for as long as possible. Got dreams of winning World Cups and maintaining this number 1 status in test cricket for as long as possible.”

Watch the full interview – AB de Villiers on taking over the captaincy of the Proteas’ Test side.

The third test at the Bidvest Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg starts Thursday, January 14th to 18th at 9:30am.