De Villiers calls for WTC change despite SA victory
South Africa's World Test Championship triumph "stirred the emotions" of the country, but there is "still work to be done" on the format, says Proteas legend AB de Villiers.Temba Bavuma's side beat Australia by five wickets in the Lord's final last week to end the country's 27-year wait for a men's global title.The victory comes after a number of near misses in International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments that earned the Proteas their unwanted "chokers" tag, but De Villiers hopes that can now become a thing of the past."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.Building on their Test success may be tricky, though, as South Africa play only four Tests in the next 16 months - two in Zimbabwe in the next month, that are not part of the World Test Championship, and two in India in November.Any sort of victorious homecoming for the red-ball side will have to wait even longer with the Proteas' next home Tests not scheduled until October 2026, when they face Australia in a three-match series."[This moment] won't be lost," De Villiers said. "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."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."
The 2025-27 WTC cycle began on Tuesday and, as it stands, the number of Tests each team plays over the two years varies significantly.South Africa played 12 matches to qualify for the recent final, the joint-fewest of the nine sides and 10 fewer than England, who played the most, with percentage of points earned used to determine the standings.There is also a discrepancy in who each nation plays, with some highlighting a favourable schedule for the Proteas in 2023-25 qualifying that meant they played just two home Tests against India and did not face Australia or England at all.By contrast, in the new cycle they have the two aforementioned Tests in India and host both Australia and England for three Tests apiece in 2026 and early 2027."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."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."Listen to the full interview with South Africa great AB de Villiers on the Stumped podcast, available on BBC Sounds, from Thursday.
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