AB de Villiers “rules himself out” of England Test series
Despite this, he insists he is not retiring from the format.
Despite insisting earlier this week that he has no plans on retiring from the longest format of the game, AB de Villiers has now ruled himself out of both the upcoming series away to New Zealand and England as well as the home series against Bangladesh.
De Villiers was speaking to the media at Centurion, ahead of the T20 series against Sri Lanka. The former Test captain told 702 earlier this week that playing in the 2019 World Cup was at the top of is priority list, but admitted that he would have to manage his workload considering how much cricket is being played these days.
Cricket South Africa CEO Haroon Lorgat was quoted as saying that De Villiers will not be allowed to “pick and choose” which games he played and if he wanted to play in the World Cup, he will have to play all South Africa’s fixtures.
De Villiers said that he will not be playing in any other T20 leagues around the world, aside from the Indian Premier League (IPL) because the tournament is “part of the ICC set-up”.
“There is a lot of cricket but the situation has changed for me, my priorities have changed,” de Villiers was quoted as saying. “I don’t expect to just walk back into the team, I will make my runs at the Titans.
The batsman will be targeting a return to Test cricket during India and Australia’s tours to the country in the 2017-18 season.
