De Villiers to miss England Test tour

Jan 18, 2017 - 2:18 PM South Africa's batting linchpin AB de Villiers has made himself unavailable for the upcoming Test tour of England.

De Villiers, who took over the captaincy of his country from Hashim Amla in a 2-1 defeat at home to England last winter, was expected to return from his elbow injury in time for the re-match in July and August.

But the 32-year-old, who had confirmed earlier this week that he is not ready to retire from Test cricket - despite sitting out the tour of New Zealand next month - revealed he will not be travelling to England after all for the four-Test series this summer.

A Cricket South Africa spokesman has also confirmed his anticipated absence.

De Villiers, who has made clear he intends to concentrate his efforts on trying to win South Africa's first World Cup in England in 2019, broke the bombshell that he will not be playing any Tests until next winter in a press conference at Centurion on Wednesday lunchtime.

"I'm just not ready yet," he said.

" I'm aware of my elbow. The surgeon said it will be normal. I'm feeling really confident.

"There is a lot of cricket, but the situation has changed for me - my priorities have changed."

A CSA spokesman subsequently told Press Association Sport: "He has said he is unavailable (for the Test trip to England).

"That tour is some way off, obviously, and things can happen - but as of now, he is unavailable for selection."

In the absence of De Villiers, who has scored more than 8,000 runs in 106 Tests and is also one of the world's outstanding limited-overs batsmen, South Africa have been led by Faf du Plessis.

De Villiers' absence comes at a time when South Africa are already compromised by a series of effective international retirements by a clutch of Test regulars, who have instead chosen to take up Kolpak deals with English counties. Those contracts mean they must immediately forego their international careers for their native country.

Opener Dean Elgar will, however, be available to continue his Test career this summer and beyond after agreeing to join Somerset as an overseas player.

Source: AAP