Former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers has represented his country for over 15 years. He has scored over 20000 runs for his national side across all three formats. Despite his early retirement in 2018, he’s still regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world of the current generation.
Recently, he was in an Instagram live with South African all-rounder JP Duminy where he spoke about his form during England’s tour of South Africa in 2016. It was also during the same series where England’s Stuart Broad was in phenomenal form. The fast bowler dismissed AB de Villiers three times in seven innings which included two ducks.
I wanted to tear apart Stuart Broad – AB de Villiers
In the conversation, AB de Villiers revealed how he wanted to tear apart the bowler in the one day leg of the series.
“Broad was completely over me in that Test series couple of weeks prior to the ODIs. I was definitely feeling pressure from his side, he was bowling with amazing skill throughout the series. He had me jumping all over the place, he was actually on top of me. I had to do something. I decided in the ODI series that I’m not going to allow that to happen,” de Villiers told Duminy.
The swashbuckling batsman, who scored just 210 runs in the Test series started off the one-dayers with a brilliant 73-runs knock. Though the form didn’t continue well in the 2nd and 3rd ODI, AB de Villiers came back strong in the fourth ODI. He took down the attack on Broad early on in the innings as he stitched a partnership with Duminy.
“Amazing fightback from JP and I, we got it back there. Fifty partnership … and then he ran me out! You remember that? Chris Woakes [is the bowler], rolled it [the ball] right back at Woakes, and he’s like, ‘Yeah’ [for a run]. He’s halfway down the wicket, I am like ‘OK’. I am fifty off 25 balls [36 off 26], I am seeing the ball like a balloon … at least we won that game.”
In the fourth One day, AB de Villiers and JP Duminy shared a partnership of 58 where the former scored 36 and Duminy added 31. Later, Morris scored a blistering 62 off 38 which ensured South Africa’s win.
