Cricket
AB: It's been tough
2009-09-03 07:42
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Eduan RoosJohannesburg – He may be one of the favourites to be named the world's best cricketer very soon, but AB de Villiers has no time to rest on his laurels.
The Protea batsman and his captain, Graeme Smith was on Tuesday nominated as candidates for the International Cricket Council's player of the year award, but there was no sign of congratulations as the team continued its training camp in Potchefstroom.
The South Africans have this past week been preparing for the Champions Trophy series, which starts at the end of this month. De Villiers said that they were training hard.
"It's the hardest I have trained with this team. We run three or four times every day, attend net sessions, sweat in the gym and work on our fitness in the pool," he said.
He said the Champions Trophy series would present the "ideal opportunity" to work on the team's poor record in major tournaments.
The Proteas have only won one ICC tournament in 12 previous attempts.
"We came short a few times, but there are many players in the team that are eager to improve. We believe we are the best team in the world and now is a good chance to prove that," he said.
De Villiers and Smith will battle it out with 12 other nominees for the ICC's player of the year award. The pair, together with Dale Steyn, has also been nominated for the award of Test player of the year.
Wayne Parnell (Twenty20 performance of the year) is the other Protea that made the shortlist.
The winners will be announced in Johannesburg on 1 October.
"I was very consistent the last year, but can improve in several areas. There's a big season ahead and no reason why we cannot win a number of trophies," said De Villiers.
"We have not played much cricket in recent times, but have a few training games behind us. I believe we are all professional enough to gear ourselves mentally for the tournament."
The Proteas on Thursday play in the first of two games against the Lions.
Smith, who is still recovering from an operation on his elbow, and Parnell (flu) are the only players that look set to miss the games.