AB De Villiers has a streak going which is quite unusual for him to say the least. He has gone out for a duck in three consecutive innings against England. In the Test series between South Africa and England, de Villiers managed to score 36 runs in the first innings. But after that his luck ran out as he went out for a duck in three straight innings.
Some may point to this run of bad luck as the captain's curse. Before donning the captain's mantle, de Villiers had scored 8,038 runs with an average of 51.52 from 106 Tests. AB de Villiers had previously set a Test record by playing 45 Tests and 78 innings before going out for a Duck. He has now gone out for a duck three times in a row.
Temba Bavuma, fellow South African teammate defended de Villiers saying: “I never thought three ducks for AB was possible but then he is human, he makes mistakes. He will bounce back in the one-day series coming up.”
Before he became captain, De Villiers had previously gone out for a duck only four times in 172 innings over a period of 11 years.
De Villiers poor performance comes on the heels of his comment about the state of England's bowling. He remarked about England: “The bowling is experienced but some of the guys have lost some pace over the years, but they are smart and skilled so there are other angles to cover,”
“But they are not unbeatable, there’s no doubt. I’m not only optimistic about this game but our future as well.” he added.
His comments understandably lit a fire in the England team. England's captain Alastair Cook said “He’s obviously trying to wind everything up and if Jimmy reads it he’ll have a word,”
“I actually think his speeds have been quite good in this series. It’s a brave man to call Jimmy Anderson out but I guess it will spice up the match a little.” he added. James Anderson was later asked if he feels that he has lost a step. He replied “I don’t see the speeds come up, I’ll have to check but I feel like the balls coming out all right.
Anderson relished taking de Villiers' wicket. After getting de Villiers dismissed by LBW, he said “It was nice to get the captain out and obviously there were smiles on faces referring to his comments before the game. We mentioned those in the huddle.”
De Villiers holds numerous accolades to his name, but he will be looking to break this streak of ducks as soon as possible.
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