The crowds around England are more knowledgeable than most parts of the world: AB de Villiers

On his Middlesex debut, former South African cricketer AB de Villiers had a dream outing. But also, he might have made a slightly controversial comment after his match-winning knock. The Pretoria-born cricketer said that the crowds around England were more knowledgeable than most parts of the world, including South Africa.

He said that the crowd that came to witness the game at Lord’s was quite amazing. Moreover, the 35-year-old termed the quality of cricket in the T20 Blast fantastic. He added that this was amongst the best crowds he’s ever played in front of and mentioned that he was happy about how things went on his debut.

“Look at the crowd. The crowd here tonight was amazing, the quality of cricket was right up there. Obviously, it is not broadcasted around the world, which makes it a bit different from the IPL and other tournaments. But, I mean, it’s fantastic. This is one of the best crowds I have ever played in front of. Ultimately, that’s what the game is all about, for us to showcase our talents and for the people to support us. I was pretty happy about today,” he said.

There is a lot of noise in the other tournaments; this is more clapping

In his post-match, AB de Villiers mentioned that he wouldn’t compare this to the IPL. But he noted that the crowd in England was more knowledgeable including South Africa. He even said that he feels like he is entertaining people who sort of study the game.

“I must be careful with my words now. But generally, what I feel like, I won’t compare it with the IPL, but the crowds around England are generally more knowledgeable about the game of cricket than most parts of the world and I’m including South Africa. Most parts, you have fans here that are people who know the game exceptionally well.

So I feel like you’re entertaining people who sort of study the game in a way. So it makes it a bit different. You get a lot of noise around the world in other tournaments, this is more clapping. But they understand the game and you have huge respect as a player which is amazing,” Ab de Villiers further said.

“The crowds around England are generally more knowledgeable about the game of cricket than most parts of the world and I’m including South Africa.”

AB de Villiers talks about how crowds around the world differ after blasting 88* on his Middlesex debut at Lord’s ???? pic.twitter.com/UciFgXfqW8

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) July 18, 2019