South Africa must prepare for tricky transition, says Smith

The 34-year-old’s audacious batting style and breathtaking fielding has made him one of the sport’s leading lights and there is barely a dull moment for the spectators when De Villiers is on the cricket field.

“I think AB’s thought about it a lot,” Smith, who himself made a shocking retirement at the age of 33 four years back, said. “I thought definitely he would retire after the 2019 World Cup. But when he made his comeback and did so well in the home summer in South Africa, had a really good IPL (Indian Premier League), I didn’t even think about it.”

De Villiers retired with a test average of 50.66 and as the fourth-highest scorer for South Africa with 8,765 runs. In ODI cricket, he holds the records for the fastest 50 (16 balls), 100 (31 balls) and 150 (64 balls) with those innings exhibiting his 360-degree batting ability, much to the amusement of the fans. “Ultimately people will be very disappointed because they are going to miss him, just because he was that brilliant. They wanted to see him play more,” added Smith.

“But the guy has played international cricket for around 15 years... More than anything he has the right to decide when he’s had enough. He will have his own reasons for that, you got to respect that.” Left-handed opener Smith was a veteran of 117 tests, 109 of those as captain, and is the world record holder for the most test wins as skipper of a five-day team with 53. He remains the most capped test captain in the history of the game and was handed the reins of the South African side at the age of 22.