AB de Villiers was among the many South African legends at Lord’s when the Proteas for a major title by winning the World Test Championship. While their six-wicket win over Australia in the marquee Test match has led to an outpouring of joy and emotion, there have also been a lot of voices questioning the legitimacy of of their status at Test world champions considering the significantly fewer Test matches that South Africa played against the top teams compared to Australia.
De Villiers said that the value of South Africa’s win can never be diminished but something needs to be done to make the WTC cycle fairer for all Test playing nations. “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,” he told BBC World Service’s Stumped podcast.
“[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.”
De Villiers said that while the next WTC schedule shows some improvement, an increased length for the whole cycle might help everyone. “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 to just to get it as consistent as possible and as fair as possible for all for all Test-playing nations.”
“You want to get to that final feeling like you’ve played against all these nations,” De Villiers added. “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 organisers just so much more time to get a really fair, well-balanced system out there.”
Conversely, the phenomenon is only part of a larger problem in world cricket where countries outside of India, Australia and England have complained about lack of chances to play as many Test matches as possible. South Africa themselves don’t host a Test match until October 2026, almost a year and four months after their WTC victory.
The win also comes amidst concerns over the health of the longest format of the game in South Africa but De Villiers said that this achievement will increase anticipation in his country for the next encounter. “It’s a long time until our next Test match, but there’s no doubt it won’t be forgotten. I’ve absolutely no doubt the Proteas have sort of stirred the emotions of the South African cricketing fans and they will patiently wait for that next encounter,” he said.
