London, July 13: South Africa’s new wicketkeeper AB de Villiers has made it clear that he will be wearing a helmet while standing up to the wicket after veteran glovesman Mark Boucher career ended due to a freak accident behind the stumps.
De Villiers will be doing duty for the first Test against England in the direst of circumstances from the long-serving Mark Boucher.
Boucher retired on Tuesday after his eyeball was lacerated by a flying bail, The Independent reports.
De Villiers said: “I always try and wear a helmet unless it''s really, really low and slow. Mark always, funnily enough, always wears a helmet as well.
“So the reason he didn''t have a helmet on that day I don''t know... it just felt like it was a warm-up game and... It was a freakish accident that happened and I will definitely have a helmet on, like always. I had it on the whole Indian Premier League and I''ll keep doing the same.”
De Villiers is no stranger to the position having already taken over as the country''s one-day keeper and the likelihood was that he would have become the Test keeper after the series against England if Boucher, as widely anticipated, had retired at the end of it.
“I think it''s stupid to keep without a helmet on and, going forward, helmet companies will start investing in proper keeping helmets, maybe a different design. I think Albion is busy with a design at the moment,” De Villiers said.
De Villiers expects an intense contest between the No 1 (England) and No 2 (South Africa) countries in the world.
© ANI
