Stuart Broad In Agreement With AB De Villiers’ Call To Skip Tests
Feb 11, 2017 at 10:57 AM
One cannot possibly deny the fact that AB de Villiers has been a complete legend for South Africa and a quality ambassador of the game as a whole. The Proteas ODI captain has achieved tremendous feats that has ultimately helped his nation achieve glory. Recently, the highly worshiped de Villiers invited controversy when he said he would skip a couple of Test series in a bid to prolong his career and manage his workload.
Among the series’ to be skipped are the away ones against New Zealand and England. The move to do so came under scrutiny as not everyone was in agreement about allowing de Villiers to pick and choose his Test assignments. The batsman, however, has found an unlikely ally in England pacer Stuart Broad, who is in agreement with the former’s call to skip a few series.
“He needs to get it right, because what people don’t realize when cricketers get injured, it’s not just the physical pain that it can cause you, it’s the mental strain of actually getting up every day and playing through pain,” said Broad to the press, when he was quizzed about De Villiers’ decision.”
Broad, who could well be England’s next Test skipper, added further on the subject:
“It’s like playing with a headache every day, and it wears you down over a period of time. I’d always encourage any cricketer who has had long-term niggles to make sure the body gets right, so it would certainly be wrong of me to encourage AB to come over and play through an injury that has hampered him for a little while,” Broad said.
The pacer concluded by saying that in case de Villiers changes his mind, he is always welcome in England.
“But if he does have a change of heart come July it’d be lovely to see him at Lord’s. The lunches are still as good,” he concluded.