Kepler Wessels says AB de Villiers ‘can’t be captain’ of the Proteas ODI team.
The No 1-ranked Proteas were knocked out of the Champions Trophy on Sunday after suffering a heavy eight-wicket defeat to India. This followed a surprise loss to No 8-ranked Pakistan.
Wessels, in his post-match analysis on SuperSport, said De Villiers should not retain the ODI captaincy.
‘The current situation with AB de Villiers playing certain matches, not playing other matches; the fact of the matter is it’s not working,’ said Wessels.
‘If he’s going to go down that road where he doesn’t want to play some games, he wants to play other games, he’s coming in and out of the squad the whole time, then he can’t be captain. It’s simple as that.’
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Wessels criticised the tactics used by the Proteas skipper at the tournament, and on Sunday in particular.
‘It’s been very confusing,’ he said. ‘Imran Tahir is South Africa’s best bowler; South Africa got a modest total, Imran Tahir doesn’t come on to bowl.
‘Then he suddenly comes on belatedly, bowls two overs, goes out of the attack again, comes back in and takes a wicket; inexplicable.
‘The whole captaincy has to be looked at; AB de Villiers’ whole situation has to be looked at.’
The former SA captain also questioned the Proteas’ preparation for major tournaments.
‘We play a lot of emphasis on the series which happen between these events. The rest of the world don’t really do that. They experiment with teams, they rest players.
‘We win, we do well, then we come to these events and those countries seriously want to win them and they put their best team on the park.
‘I think what happens is that we think we better than we really are. We come to these events, we get shown up and then we are surprised. I think that’s something we also have to be honest about.
‘We can’t go through theses events unsuccessfully like we have and still come around and say “we’ve got what it takes; we are the best; we are better than everyone else”.
‘If it was that way, we would be winning something.’
Photo: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
