AB de Villiers sought World Cup recall, SA team management said no

[slippy888]

AB de Villiers made a remarkable last-ditch offer to come out of international retirement for this summer's World Cup, but it was turned down by the South Africa team management on the eve of their final squad announcement. Their thinking was that a recall would, among other things, be unfair to the squad that had been together for the past year since de Villiers announced his retirement.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the offer was made in April, just 24 hours before South Africa's selectors unveiled their final 15-man squad for the World Cup. De Villiers did not want to comment on the story, but said he was "wholly focussed" on supporting the South Africa team*. He reiterated his support for South Africa in a tweet.

AB de Villiers sought World Cup recall, SA team management said no | ESPNcricinfo.com


The management are a disgrace.

 

[Dendarii]

Already been posted here and here.

It's not really a disgrace when they'd told him that he needed to play against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in order to be considered for selection but he didn't take up their offer and then changed his mind the day before the squad was announced.

 

[vcs]

As great as AB is, I think they did the right thing.

 

[smash84]

yep, they did the right thing.

 

[Test_Fan_Only]

Take this **** to the world cup section.

 

[Malcolm]

SA management did the right thing.

 

[Andy1993]

They defo did the right thing

 

[a massive zebra]

Yep. Anyone who cannot be bothered to meet the lenient and perfectly reasonable criteria to qualify for selection does not deserve special treatment. The inclusion of de Villiers would have set a dangerous precedent, acted as a demotivating factor for those that bothered to play and possibly caused a bad atmosphere in the dressing room. The SA management definitely made the right decision.

 

[Howe_zat]

Would have been a good way to make sure your best players play the whatever premier league for 90% of the time and can come back whenever they feel like you're worth their time.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah exactly

No surprise he thought he could downhill ski his way back.

 

[Top_Cat]

Would have been a good way to make sure your best players play the whatever premier league for 90% of the time and can come back whenever they feel like you're worth their time.

Like he did for years, really.