Shaun Pollock believes AB de Villiers needs to return to the side to fix South Africa’s batting woes.

In the last seven Tests the Proteas have played – three against New Zealand and four against England – they’ve only managed to produce two Test centuries. Both of them have come from Dean Elgar. The best batting average from the England series was Vernon Philander’s 44.25, with Hashim Amla the only batsman from the top six averaging above 40.

Former Proteas skipper Pollock expressed the need to bring back De Villiers to shore up their woes, even if it is just temporary.

‘I definitely think they’ve got to go down the route of trying to convince AB de Villiers, even if it’s just for six months for those two big tours [against India and Australia], that he needs to make himself available,’ Pollock said on the Cricket Writer‘s podcast.

‘Then, the next step would be to try and find someone consistent at the top of the order. I think those are the two big challenges for the South Africans.

‘They have been disappointing,’ Pollock said of the Proteas batsmen. ‘Even the form players have shown little bits and pieces of what they’re capable of, but no one really has gone and gotten big scores consistently,’ Pollock said.

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