South Africa using AB de Villiers as a wicket keeper is like retro-fitting a Lamborghini supercar as a snow plow. He is their best batsman and the man that holds the whole thing together now Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith have walked away. And the South African team management are making his job even harder.
It is perhaps unsurprising that this move has led to discussions about his workload. It seems he wants to play less, and few can blame him. The amount of cricket that those who play internationally get through is unreal.
AB de Villiers in action during the recent Test series in India. AFP
It isn’t even the number of days on the field; there is all of time away from home. Even during home series the team are staying together in a hotel close to the ground. An international cricketer will spend somewhere in the region of 300 nights a year away from home. Now, let’s not get too upset about their plight. They are getting to do what for most cricket fans would be the best job in the world, and for the most part they are paid very well for it. What it does do is limit the amount of time that we will get to watch the very best play the sport at the highest level.
With the lure of hugely lucrative franchise T20 hanging around in the background players no longer have only one employment option. If de Villiers decided to walk away from international cricket he could do so in the knowledge that he could be employed around the world earning a similar level of income while choosing his own schedule and spending more time at home. You can see why that would be appealing for a man that has made his reputation in international cricket and has a young family at home. There is no coincidence that the point where players start questioning time away coincides with starting a family.
The talk of de Villiers’ retirement stem from an article from South African newspaper Rapport which said that “events in recent years have led him to seriously reconsider his Test future”. One of these incidents that the report cites is the controversy at the World Cup earlier this year where there was an allegation that racial quotas led to the selection of Vernon Philander over a fit and firing Kyle Abbott for the semi-final against New Zealand. The article says it is just one of the things that has led to de Villiers being unhappy with the current state of affairs
Morne Morkel has dismissed talk of de Villiers retiring, but there certainly seems to be some truth to him wanting to reduce the amount that he is playing. The South African management asking him to return to keeping wicket will only have added to that feeling of needing to play less.
For cricket as a whole this is a concern. At a time when the standard of the sport around the world is under a huge amount of scrutiny the best players walking away is a worrying. Of the ten full member nations, half are struggling to be competitive, that number will only increase if the level of fixture congestion leads to the best players in the world deciding that their home life is suffering. It has got to the point that it is not possible to maintain a healthy body and a healthy family life with the amount of cricket that is being played.
The very best players do not need international cricket once they have made a name for themselves. While performances in Test cricket builds your “brand” as a player, once that position as a household name is secure you can almost name your price in the world of franchise T20. Kevin Pietersen is a prime example of this. Pietersen made his name with England, but he doesn’t need that association anymore. He has played at the Caribbean Premier League, the South African Ram Slam and Australia’s Big Bash while having time to play golf, be a dad to his son and be at the birth of his new child.
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You can see why others would glance at this enviously as they are ensconced in a Chittagong hotel room in the middle of an ODI series against Bangladesh.
As ever with cricket, the solution is simple but unlikely. The answer is that international teams play less cricket, with a calendar that has clear gaps that allow for franchise T20 participation and rest and recuperation. Boards eager for the television income that keeps them afloat are unlikely to accept their team playing less.
In addition to the talk of de Villiers’ playing workload Dale Steyn is struggling to stay fit and play every game at the age of 32, James Anderson is a year older and is having to have his workload aggressively managed, and that is just players talking part in this South Africa vs England series. If de Villiers does make the decision to walk away from South African cricket it will be the fixture list that is to blame and the fans of the sport that suffer.
The biggest threat to international cricket is low intensity games that do not feature the best players as they have been driven out of the sport by the amount of time they are away from their families and the toll it takes on their body. The warning signs are there, the question is whether these warnings will be heeded.
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