South Africa won’t allow another AB de Villiers World Cup selection saga
The simmering tensions between South African cricket officials and the country’s biggest star are threatening to boil over ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup.
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South Africa has put a strict deadline on superstar AB de Villiers to decide whether he wants in for the Twenty20 World Cup later this year.
Proteas coach Mark Boucher is keen to avoid the circus which unfolded on the eve of last year’s 50-over World Cup when it was revealed de Villiers had offered to come out of retirement, only to be turned down by South Africa, who felt the star had left it too late to signal his intentions.
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The saga strained relationships behind the scenes in South African cricket, and there is speculation de Villiers and Faf du Plessis aren’t as close as they once were as a result of the fallout.
South Africa wants de Villiers – and with the Brisbane Heat ace they instantly become genuine World Cup threats – but they aren’t interested in their preparations being hijacked by months of indecision and uncertainty.
“The big one is the IPL so we decided to let those guys – the free agents, if you want to call them that – do the IPL and then afterwards make themselves available,” Boucher said at a Standard Bank sponsor’s event in Bloemfontein.
“We’ve still got quite a few games (before the World Cup).
“From the first of June, which is the Sri Lanka tour, those guys (including de Villiers) need to make themselves available. Whether we select them is another story.
“But they need to make themselves available if they want to put their hands up for a World Cup spot.”
Meanwhile, Australia has no intention of resting or rotating their XI for the remaining two ODI fixtures – despite an exhausting schedule that has them arriving back home from South Africa just three days before taking on New Zealand in another rapid ODI series.
South Africa have chosen to rest several big name players including du Plessis for this series, and the Proteas and Indian coach Ravi Shastri have unashamedly admitted 50-over cricket is not a priority for them in this, a Twenty20 World Cup year.
However, Australia is taking a very different route and is refusing to pick anything but their best team.
Fast bowler Jhye Richardson looks likely to go through the entire white ball tour without getting a game, and big guns Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins look like being played through.
Australia are likely to go in against South Africa unchanged for the second ODI in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.
“I think we’ll look to play what we see as our best team,” said assistant coach, Andrew McDonald.
“It depends how they travel really (as to whether there are changes against New Zealand).
“It’s always difficult travelling back, going against the time line that way.
“It will really be a case of get there Monday night, Tuesday let them sleep and rest and try and get into the time zone, Wednesday have a light run and assess everything on Thursday.
“If someone hasn’t travelled well then potentially you do try and factor that in for the team you pick on Friday.
“Then a short turnaround to the (second ODI against NZ) on Sunday. There’s a few management issues when we get back on the ground there but that’s not uncommon with the way the schedule is these days.”
McDonald indicated West Australian D’Arcy Short will receive an extended run at trying to nail the No. 7 position in the Australian ODI line-up.