De Villiers does not want to see the pace trio endure that much punishment ever again
South Africa wicketkeeper batsman AB de Villiers has called on the team’s pace attack to reignite their hunger, aggression and passion after they surprised many cricket pundits and fans by putting up less than impressive performances throughout the three-Test series against Australia.
The Proteas managed to secure a 1-0 victory and cling on to their number one Test team ranking, but the question that is on everyone’s mind is just how much psychological damage the Australian batsmen did to South Africa’s pace trio of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel after all three of them leaked runs throughout the three Test matches like no one has never seen before.
One thing that is for sure is that South Africa’s reputation for having the best pace attack in the world will have definitely taken a hit of massive proportions.
“The bowlers can improve and they know they can,” de Villiers said. “We had our chances, we had opportunities and we just didn’t take them. There were a lot of edges and a lot of 50-50 chances didn’t go our way.”
De Villiers also noted that the team continued to miss game-changing opportunities, which ended up coming back to haunt them.
“We still created chances… we just didn’t take them, which is a bit of a worry,” de Villiers added. “But at the end of the day you’re not always going to bowl a team out for 150, 200, you sometimes have to work hard. We beat the bat a hell of a lot… it looks pretty but it’s not effective.
“For a really good bowling attack to beat the bat that much but not get the results is disappointing, but what can you do, it’s millimetres we’re talking about. But I believe we will improve, we have learnt a lot of lessons.”
When asked about if he was experiencing any trouble with his back after the series, de Villiers said: “I felt really good, obviously I spent quite a bit of time on the field, they put us out in the field for quite a few hours and my body did really well to go through that and I think it did me extremely well, to test it out and to see where I am at at the moment. And I think I passed with flying colours.”