"The Dream" that falls apart for AB de Villiers

South African skipper AB de Villiers recollected moments from his personal and professional career in his book, AB: The Autobiography, which launched in Johannesburg today.

The last chapter of the book, “The Dream”, speaks about the World Cup 2015, which South Africa lost in the semi-finals of the tournament against New Zealand.

Despite losing two group-stage matches, South Africa progressed to the semi-finals beating Sri Lanka in the Quarterfinals of the tournament, which is their first ever win in the knock-out stages of a tournament. De Villiers said that it was “generally assumed” the same team would play against New Zealand.

Does racial dynamics played a role?

But it doesn’t happen as Vernon Philander came in as a replacement for Kyle Abbott. The team which played against Sri Lanka had three players of colour in Hashim Amla, JP Duminy, and Imran Tahir. At 5:30pm on the night before the semi-final, half an hour before South Africa’s team meeting, de Villiers got a call to inform him that Philander had passed the fitness test earlier and he would replace Abbott in the squad. However, he doesn’t mention the name of the person, he got the call from.

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While considering the reason behind the selection, de Villiers explained how an injured player “will automatically go back into the team when he returned to fitness”. De Villiers also “sensed the selectors thought Vernon would thrive in New Zealand conditions”, considering Vernon’s ability to move the ball both ways on those conditions. However, de Villiers feels that “there could have been other considerations”.

“We had been assured that Cricket South Africa was the only national governing body in the country that had declined to set a target for the number of players of colour to be included in the national team but there was a delicate balance to be struck and it was generally understood that, as they chose the side, the national selectors would be conscious of providing opportunities for at least four players of colour.”

“So what had happened? Had Vernon, who was officially classified as coloured, been selected ahead of Kyle, who was officially white, to ensure there were four players of colour in the semi-final? Or had the decision been made for purely cricketing reasons?”

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However, he doesn’t answer any of those questions himself, rather he explained the impact it had on him. “It depressed me to think of my team-mates in these outdated racial terms,” he writes. “‘Would anyone really mind if there were three or four players of colour in our side?”

That night, coach Russell Domingo sent de Villiers a text “telling me how much the team needed my leadership” and former coach Gary Kirsten “also made contact, urging me to be calm and positive.” De Villiers didn’t sleep well, admitted he was “emotional” and regarded the situation as “unnecessary and unfair on everybody”.

We didn’t lose because of the decision to replace Kyle with Vernon:

His first thought in the morning was, “I hope Vern will be OK”, but he decided not to overreact as, “I still don’t know for certain what happened”. De Villiers considered it as “just another obstacle to be overcome”.

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South Africa lost the match in the last over and de Villiers blamed “five clear opportunities … three possible run-outs and two catches” for the loss, not on the selection saga. “We didn’t lose because of the decision to replace Kyle with Vernon,” he writes.

He is looking forward to the 2019 World Cup as this line suggests – “winning an official World Cup with the South African team had become my burning ambition”.

South Africa exited from the early stages of the World T20 2016 held in India and de Villiers said there was “nothing new to say and nothing new to think”. However, he is confident that they will win the title one day. “It will never be much fun until a Proteas team finally goes out and wins one of these ICC limited-overs tournaments. That will happen one day.”