While speaking to media after the drawn two-day tour match against county side Worcestershire, de Villiers urged his teammates to put emphasis on the big moments of the game.
"We know England are going to come out harder. We must put emphasis on the big moments of the game," said de Villiers during a media encounter after the two-day game at Worcester.
"We’re expecting big pressure from them early on in the second Test and it's a matter of just fighting through it. We've worked hard to get the one-nil lead and we don't want to give it away," the wicketkeeper batsman insisted.
Stakes are high for both the sides in the battle of spots. A series win, even 1-0, would see the Proteas replacing England as the world’s No. 1 Tests side. However, a drawn series would tie England and South Africa on points table, keeping the defenders a bit ahead of Proteas when extended behind the decimal point, allowing them to cling to their ranking a little longer.
Wicket-keeping is an additional responsibility imposed on the 28-year-old Pretoria batsman, after Mark Boucher picked up a career ending eye injury, at Taunton earlier this month. However, de Villiers is confident standing behind the stumps would not affect his batting in the middle.
"I don't believe keeping is going to take anything out of my batting. I really like watching the ball and being part of the game the whole time," said the right-handed middle order batsman, who did not get a chance to bat during the innings and 12 runs win, at the Oval last week. "I can see different lines and I can pick up the bounce of the wicket quite quickly," he added further.
De Villiers has been keeping for the Proteas, but in the One Day Internationals. This is the first time the Pretoria cricketer will be donning gloves for a full fledged series. Back-up gloveman Thami Tsolekile is also an option, but the tourists are unlikely to experiment with him.
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