JOHANNESBURG - “The good thing is, the World Cup is a long way away,” Ottis Gibson said as a means of assuaging his own and the country’s disappointment about AB de Villiers’ international retirement and thus his absence from next year’s showpiece event.
Speaking for first time since De Villiers’s announcement last week – which Gibson acknowledged shocked him too – the Proteas coach also revealed himself to be a pragmatist, stressing the importance of moving on and how De Villiers’ retirement now opens doors for others to fulfil a World Cup dream in a year’s time.
“Of course it’s disappointing,” Gibson commented Monday. “He’s one of the best players in the world…he could have made a huge difference at the World Cup, he knows that, but he’s chosen to walk away from the game at this time. How I see it from my side, is that ‘it is what it is.’
"He gives me a year, not to find a replacement for him, because he can’t be replaced, but it gives an opportunity for someone to put their hand up. There’s a space to fill. If I was a young cricketer at franchise level, there is now a hole at no.4, and I will be doing everything I can to make sure that position is mine.”
Gibson did speak to De Villiers shortly before he posted the video on-line announcing his retirement, explaining that he offered De Villiers the chance to drop Test cricket and continue with the One-Day format until the World Cup.
“He said he’s spoken to all the people he needed to about it, and once he’s come to that decision there’s no point in me trying to get him to change his mind,” said Gibson.
“He wouldn’t have made the decision lightly and there is nothing I could have said at that stage to change his mind. Once that decision has been made, as a team, from a coaching point of view I need to get everyone to move on, sport moves on pretty quickly.”
I’ve made a big decision today pic.twitter.com/In0jyquPOK
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) May 23, 2018
De Villiers retirement has naturally, Gibson admitted, thrown a spanner in the works as far as the planning for the tournament was concerned. The selection net which was cast fairly wide last summer, may have to be widened some more as he and the selectors assess possible candidates for the no.4 spot in the ODI side.
Among the names Gibson discussed Monday were Aiden Markram and more interestingly Dean Elgar, who’s played just six ODIs, the last of those as a late replacement against India three years ago.
“Dean by playing county cricket (for Surrey) puts himself in the picture. You look at his record, playing for Somerset last year he did very well in white ball cricket. He’s not out of the picture," he said.
"We haven’t looked at Dean since I’ve been here, but with what’s happened with AB, and you’re looking for experience in English conditions, someone like Dean I would imagine would come back into the equation.”
Sad to hear that @ABdeVilliers17 has retired from the game. He was a serious player on the field for 🇿🇦and an even better person off it and proud to call him my team mate and friend. Good luck with the future plans my bud. U will be missed by many. 🥇🏏 #Legendofthegame
— Dean Elgar (@deanelgar) May 23, 2018
The door does remain wide open, with Gibson saying the selectors would want to play something close to the squad for the World Cup in the two one-day series’ next summer against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. That means for the ODIs in Sri Lanka and the two short series’ against Zimbabwe and Australia, there will be a continuation of the experimenting seen last summer.
Firmly in his sights right now however is South Africa’s tour to Sri Lanka in July that includes two Tests, five ODIs and a T20 International. All of South Africa’s contracted players are back in the country this week, for fitness assessments, and the selectors and Gibson will meet to pick the squad for the Sri Lanka tour on Thursday