AB de Villiers backs South Africa to win Test series against England
Faf du Plessis will lead a South Africa side sprinkled with new faces.
AB de Villiers believes South Africa’s excellent Test record in England will work in their favour again.
De Villiers, one of the world’s best batsman, will miss the four-Test series which starts on July 6 to be with wife Danielle, who is due to give birth to their second child.
Faf du Plessis will lead a South Africa side sprinkled with new faces and England will be confident of claiming a first home Test series success over the Proteas since 1998.
Since then, South Africa have won twice and drawn once in three Test series and De Villiers insists that trend can continue.
“I really believe we have a good chance,” said De Villiers, who returns home after leading South Africa at the Champions Trophy and in a three-match Twenty20 series which England which won 2-1.
“It’s not going to be easy. The England Test team is pretty settled and they play well in their own conditions. But we’ve won a few series here in the past, we know how to do it.
“I think some of our senior players will draw a lot of confidence from those experiences and will help the youngsters quite a bit on how to handle the kind of pressures they are going to be faced with. We’ve got some really talented young players who are going to be making their debuts and I’m looking forward to watch them perform.”
De Villiers’ future has been the subject of intense scrutiny given the strain on him being one of the world’s leading players in all three international formats.
The 33-year-old is also highly sought after by lucrative T20 franchises around the world and talks are planned on his future before Bangladesh visit in September.
But De Villiers says he still hopes to be representing South Africa at the 2019 World Cup in England.
“I was going to meet with the CSA (Cricket South Africa) around August depending on what works for both parties,” De Villiers said.
“I’m not going to pick and choose games, we’re going to make a final decision on what’s lying ahead for the next couple of years. It’s my main dream to win a World Cup for South Africa, but there are quite a few things we need to wait for before we know what’s going to happen in the next few years.”
