AB de Villiers recalls the worst sledging experience during Australia’s tour of South Africa in 2014

South Africa led by stand-in skipper Faf du Plessis humiliated the visiting Australians in the five-match One-Day International series as they whitewashed them 5-0. The Proteas now travel down under for the Test leg and will once again be without regular skipper AB de Villiers who is out with an injury. It won’t be as easy for the South Africans to beat the Aussies in their backyard and it is not just the ball game that they need to beat them in, the mind games, well they have already started.

Australian off-spinner Nathan Lyon just yesterday said that they might have to opt to play some ugly cricket and adjust their game since the visitors will come well prepared and it won’t be an easy series. This would definitely remind most of the Australia tour of South Africa, 2014 where the Aussies defeated the hosts 2-1 to also snatch the No.1 Test Ranking.

But it was not just the cricket that made news, the on-field banters were a feature of the series as well. There was a certain incident involving Australian skipper Michael Clarke and South African spearhead Dale Steyn which got a bit too hot. It was too much for the skipper Faf du Plessis to handle and he termed the Australians a ‘pack of wild dogs.’ The visitors responded to that as well and a few players were subsequently heard barking after Faf’s dismissal.

AB de Villiers who also set to miss the scheduled Test series recalled the 2014 series in an interaction with Fox Sports and said, “That was definitely the most abuse we’ve got on the cricket field.”

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“When we play England, it’s pretty verbal. I also remember touring Australia in 2006 as a youngster, with the likes of Warne and McGrath and Gilly behind the stumps. Still, that was nowhere near what we received in 2014. Australia certainly made a conscious effort to be verbally over the top.”

He believed that the Australian player’s attempt to get under their skin using personal remarks was something avoidable. AB said, “Maybe they felt they could get under us if they really came out and got personal with some of us. I felt it was unnecessary. Some of the Australian players came up and apologised and felt that it was a little bit over the top … certainly, at times they did go over the top and I think they regret that in some way.”