South African cricket legend Barry Richards said he was surprised to see AB de Villiers bat at number five in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Captain Hashim Amla moved down the order to number four with Faf du Plessis going in at three and De Villiers at five.
“It’s not rocket science that your two best players bat at number three and four. I would have liked to have seen Hashim Amla bat at number three and AB de Villiers at four, and was surprised that AB was not promoted,” Richards told supersport.
De Villiers remained at five (following the previous test series against Australia in South Africa). He is not playing as wicketkeeper-batsman because he is nursing a hamstring-injury and Quinton de Kock, in his second test, is wearing the gloves.
Asked what he thought of the situation, Dr Ali Bacher, a former South African captain, said “the decision to move Amla to number four, won’t have any negative batting relevance.”
“Faf du Plesiss is a very accomplished batsman with a superb big-match temperament. He is also a fighter,” said Bacher.
“In that match in Adelaide against Australia, he was unflappable and never flinched in spite of the Australians having a go at him,” he said.
Du Plessis scored a composed 80 in the first innings of the first test and added 125 runs for the second wicket with one of the two South African centurions, Dean Elgar
