Beyond the South Africa camp there may be a mixture of alarm and relief that AB de Villiers is not participating in this Test series and that he may never play Test cricket again. The non‑partisan punter will be disappointed by this prospect since De Villiers, now 33, is one of the great cricketers of his generation.
The figures demonstrate that – 106 Tests, 8,074 runs at an average in excess of 50 is a formidable record – but those numbers do not convey the magic of his batting when he is in full flow. De Villiers, the politest of men, has nevertheless had the capacity to intimidate international bowlers whatever the format.
However, the South Africans themselves are sanguine about his absence. This may surprise those who have not been closely monitoring their Test cricket over the past 18 months. The simple fact is that De Villiers has not played a Test for South Africa since January 2016. His last game was in Port Elizabeth against England. He notched a pair and South Africa won that last match of a lost series by 280 runs as if to prove that they could, if necessary, get by without him.
Since then South Africa have won four series in a row under the astute captaincy of Faf du Plessis: two against New Zealand, one thumping of Sri Lanka at home and, most impressively, a defeat of Australia away from home. In that time seven Tests have been won and one lost (the floodlit, dead-rubber contest in Adelaide last November). These performances suggest they can indeed prosper without De Villiers.
Clearly his form has been suffering in recent times and he has found the demands of the game, which is usually a reference to the number of nights away from home rather than the necessity to hit another cricket ball, has left him numb. In these circumstances it is probably better to withdraw.
Whenever a totemic figure such as De Villiers or Viv Richards or Kevin Pietersen is reduced to the desperation of the mere mortal, it has a disproportionately negative impact on those about him. So in this instance no De Villiers may be better than a bad De Villiers.
In all probability there will be a Faf du Plessis at Lord’s. He became a father on Thursday and is expected to return to London in time to captain the side, which means that Dean Elgar, the stopgap captain-elect, can concentrate on forging a new opening partnership at Test level with Heino Kuhn. It may help that they have played together many times in domestic cricket. Kuhn will be making his debut aged 33 and so can congratulate himself that he has managed to avoid the allure of being a Kolpak.
The splurge of Kolpaks into this country before the Brexit negotiations has not had a major impact on the Test team but it has meant that South Africa lack their usual depth. Their A side have struggled in England partly because many of their second team are now playing county cricket.
In this series the only other newcomer to English eyes will be the 27-year-old left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who has excelled – to the tune of 26 wickets at 25.88 – in his seven Tests so far. The one uncertainty going into the Lord’s Test is whether Vernon Philander, who has been waylaid by an ankle injury acquired while playing for Sussex, will recover in time. If not, then Chris Morris, who played two Tests against England in 2016, is his likely replacement.
Whoever is selected, this is a resilient South Africa side who are growing in confidence whatever the setbacks. The absence of De Villiers, the fast bowler Dale Steyn’s injury, the flight of the Kolpaks and the challenges posed by the demands of the transformation policy do not seem to deter their resolve. Indeed, their team are markedly more settled than England’s.
