AB de Villiers ‘desperate’ to win ODI silverware: Hussey

Although de Villiers hasn’t quit Test cricket so far, he has more than once expressed his desire to focus on 50-over cricket, with the glory of 2019 World Cup is something which is driving him in his cricket career. 

Hussey, who revealed he met de Villiers while commentating during the ongoing tenth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), said that the South African skipper is extremely motivated to guide his side to silverware at the moment, something which can prove to be pretty dangerous for the opposition.

“I caught up with him while I was in India (commentating the IPL) and he’s desperate to win a tournament with South Africa in one-day cricket. He thinks they can win a World Cup, so this is like a mini-World Cup and it’s what’s driving him in his cricket career at the moment,” Hussey told Cricket Australia.

“When you’ve got such a quality player that’s highly motivated, personally and for the team, then that’s a pretty dangerous combination for the opposition,” he added. 

The 33-year-old made his first-class and List A debuts in 2003, five years after South Africa won the ICC tournament in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1998, when it was known as the ICC Knock-Out.

That remains South Africa’s only silverware at a major multi-nation event, with heart-breaking losses - including three World Cup semi-final defeats and a crushing rain-affected tie on home soil in 2003 -is something motivating de Villiers to break his nation’s reputation as ‘chokers’ by winning South Africa’s first piece international career comes to an end. 

Last August, de Villiers took time off to get a number of injuries treated, and then suffered an elbow injury that ruled him out of the home Test series win against New Zealand the Test tour of South Africa. 

De Villiers is currently the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world. He also owns the fastest one-day century (31 balls against the Windies in 2015) and has reached 9,000 runs in fewer innings than any other batsman in the game.

The upcoming Champions Trophy in England and Wales from 1-18 June carries a total prize money of USD 4.5 million with the winner of the eight-team tournament taking home a cheque of USD 2.2 million, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Sunday. 

The eighth edition of the tournament sees an increase of USD 500,000 in prize money from the 2013 edition. The runner-up of the tournament will get a cheque of USD 1.1 million, while the other two semifinalists will earn USD 450,000 each. Teams finishing third in each group will take home USD 90,000 each, while the teams finishing last in each group will get USD 60,000 each.