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He was not named International Cricket Council Men’s Trial Team of the Decade, but former South African maestro AB de Villiers is the toughest drumming star Pat Cummins has played.
Between the CCI Decade Awards period of January 1, 2011 through October 7 of this year, de Villiers had 4,063 tries at an average of 54.17.
The 36-year-old also scored 10 of his 22 centuries of testing during this time, with the highest score of the lot, his 169 against Australia in Perth in 2012.
But the ICC instead went for Kane Williamson from New Zealand, Virat Kohli from India, Steve Smith from Australia and Kumar Sangakkara from Sri Lanka in the middle order.
“I have to say the Villiers AB is the toughest hitter I’ve played, especially in the 2018 Test Series,” Cummins said.
“He’s just looking a class above it feels like at any point he can switch to T20 mode and when you pound with the tail I feel like he can hit a hundred in five overs. So I would tell him. “
The 2018 test run Cummins was referring to was the infamous Australian tour of South Africa, which led Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft to hang suspensions following the ball tampering saga.
De Villiers compiled 426 tries across the four tests – in Durban, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Johannesburg – with an average of 71.16.
His highest heats of the series were his 126 unbeaten at Port Elizabeth, which saw him trouble Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchell Marsh.
In the ICC period from January 1, 2011 to October 7 of this year, Smith looted 7,040 tries at an average of 65.79.
The right-hander’s highest round around this time is the highest of his Test career, his 239 against England in Perth in the summer of 2017-18 in Australia.
“I was obviously delighted that Smithy was named Test Player of the Decade,” Cummins said.
“It’s an incredible achievement.”
Male ICC Test Team of the Decade
Alastair Cook (ENG), David Warner (AUS), Kane Williamson (NZ), Virat Kohli (c) (IND), Steve Smith (AUS), Kumar Sangakkara (sem) (SL), Ben Stokes (ENG), Ravichandran Ashwin (IND), Dale Steyn (SA), Stuart Broad (ENG), Jimmy Anderson (ENG)
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