AB de Villiers unhappy after South Africa's WTC Final win!! Officially speaks to ICC for change
Published - 18 Jun 2025, 12:44 PM | Updated - 18 Jun 2025, 02:30 PM
Table of Contents
South Africa’s historic ICC World Test Championship (WTC) triumph at Lord’s has brought joy and pride to the entire nation, ending their 27-year-long wait for a men’s global title.
After years of heartbreak in ICC tournaments, the Proteas finally broke the jinx by defeating Australia in the WTC Final 2025 by five wickets last week at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground.
This emotional victory came after nearly three decades of close heartbreaks, including the 2024 T20 World Cup final, giving fans a reason to believe that the South Africa National Cricket Team can now shed the "chokers" tag and aim for more consistent success in future ICC tournaments.
Too big and too special for all South Africans: AB de Villiers on ICC World Test Championship triumph
However, South African legend AB de Villiers believes that the job isn’t finished yet. Despite the historic triumph, the former captain feels Test cricket still needs more attention and better scheduling to truly grow in South Africa.
AB de Villiers said on BBC World Service's Stumped podcast, “We've had some very disappointing and sad ends to a lot of campaigns, especially the World Cups, but now it's time to start believing that we can do this more often.
[This moment] won't be lost. It was too big and too special for all South Africans—it was a Test match no one will ever forget. But yes, to a certain extent, something needs to be done.”
AB de Villiers demands bigger Test plans for South Africa after WTC glory at Lord’s
According to the current schedule, the Proteas side will play only four Test matches in the next 16 months—two of them against Zimbabwe, which don’t even count towards the new ICC World Test Championship cycle 2025-27, and another two in India later this year.
And the most surprising thing is that the Proteas won’t even play a Test match at home until October 2026, when they will once again face the Australians. De Villiers has strongly opined that every Test-playing nation must get enough matches regularly in order to stay strong and fair.
AB de Villiers explained, “I saw the schedule that came out for the next cycle of the WTC, and there is an improvement, but I still feel there's work that needs to be done there just to get it as consistent as possible and as fair as possible for all Test-playing nations.”
Read Also: Joe Root shuns off Virat Kohli, claims he was never a competitor
AB de Villiers suggests "four-year cycle" for WTC
De Villiers also called for a change in the WTC format. He suggested a longer cycle, like four years, to make it fairer and better planned. He also hopes South Africa gets to play more Test matches in the future.
Even though their next Test is far away, De Villiers believes that the South African fans will remember this big win and wait patiently for the team’s next Test match.
He signed off by saying, “Maybe a four-year cycle would be nice. We've done that in the past with one-day internationals, so why not in Test cricket? It would make sense, and it would give the organizers just so much more time to get a really fair, well-balanced system out there.”
Read Also: BCCI takes massive action on Ajit Agarkar's future after Virat-Rohit's alleged 'FORCED' retirements
About the Author
Rashmi Wasnik is a passionate content writer with over a decade of experience. She started her journ... Read more
