De Villiers sought World Cup recall but South Africa turned him down: report
According to ESPNcricinfo, de Villiers made the offer in April but South Africa team management declined as it would be unfair to new players
June 06, 2019
Legendary South African batsman AB de Villiers made an effort to be included in his country's squad for the World Cup 2019, but was turned down by the team management.
According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, de Villiers made the offer in April, 24 hours before selectors announced their final 15-man World Cup squad.
The management thought a recall would be unfair to the South African squad that had been together for the past year since 35-year-old de Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket in May 2018.
The report said de Villiers approached South Africa captain Faf du Plessis, head coach Ottis Gibson and convener of selectors Linda Zondi, telling them he was willing to reverse his retirement decision. However, he was told that this would not be possible.
The ESPNcricinfo report, quoting people privy to the talks, said de Villiers' request was "not even considered".
The report cited two main reasons behind the management's decision to turn down de Villiers' request.
First, the batsman had retied more than a year ago and thus did not fulfill selection criteria, which included participation in domestic cricket or international cricket.
Secondly, selectors felt recalling de Villiers would be unfair to new players who had recently been performing in his absence, such as Rassie van der Dussen.
The South African team has had a disastrous start to their World Cup 2019 campaign, as the Proteas suffered a third defeat in as many matches at the World Cup after a six-wicket loss to India on Wednesday.
The team's hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals from the 10-team round-robin pool phase are already hanging by a thread after a reverse that followed a 104-run thrashing by hosts England in the World Cup opener and a surprise loss to Bangladesh.
South Africa will be back in Southampton on Monday to face the West Indies in their fourth World Cup match.
The team may now need to win all six of its remaining group matches if they want to have a chance of reaching semi-finals.
