AB must return to Tests: Pollock

Former South Africa captain Shaun Pollock says the Proteas must coax AB de Villiers back into the Test arena if they are to turn around their batting form in upcoming series against India and Australia. 

Pollock’s comments on the Cricket Writers podcast comes at a time when South Africa are on the verge of losing the Test series against England, a position the Proteas have arrived at largely due to below-par batting performances throughout the four-match series. 

De Villiers has not played a Test since January 2016, with injury sidelining the 33-year-old for much of last year and the right-hander batting phenom is yet to commit to a future in Test cricket. De Villier’s Test involvement seems to be a topic of hot debate, with Pollock’s successor Graeme Smith -- now retired -- saying that earlier that De Villiers should end the speculation around his Test career and focus on ODI cricket, specifically the 2019 World Cup.

Before the India and Australia series, there is Bangladesh’s visit to South Africa in September-October. De Villiers had told reporters in June that he would meet with Cricket South Africa in August and that would decide his future.

 "The bowling line-up looks settled, they’ve got Keshav Maharaj who has come on in leaps and bounds and maybe even Dale Steyn could be back at some stage we would hope," Pollock said in the podcast. "But I definitely think they’ve got to go down the route of trying to convince AB de Villiers, even if it is just for six months for those two big tours, that he needs to make himself available. 

In the current series against England, however, only opener Dean Elgar has his a century, while the usually excellent Hashim Amla has fallen short of his high standards and skipper Faf du Plessis has been enduring a lean spell. 

“They have been disappointing, 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. "So I think that is a bit of a challenge going forward. They’ve got Bangladesh coming up at home where they can maybe try and settle things down, but then they’ve two big tours, India at the end of the year and then Australia after that, those are massive tours.”