AB de Villiers set to comeback from retirement?

Former South African cricketer AB de Villier may play for the national side again, according to Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis.

After new coach Mark Boucher announced upon his appointment on Saturday that he could try and bring back the batsman into the national side, Du Plessis confirmed that talks have already begun.

“People want AB to play and I am no different,” Du Plessis said after leading the Paarl Rocks to the Mzansi Super League championship. “Those conversations have been happening for two or three months already: what does it look like, how does it look over the next year, and that’s where it starts.”

It would be an unexpected about-turn for ABD, especially after the fuss surrounding the 35-year-old during the World Cup earlier this year. Having calling it a day in May 2018, De Villiers aimed a comeback at the ICC World Cup 2019 but was unsuccessful.

But it now seems that AB de Villiers could be persuaded to play in the T20 World Cup nest year. The latter has been playing T20 cricket all around the world since his retirement.

“T20 cricket is a different beast, it’s not a lot of time away from home. If you are a full campaigner, you have to really get stuck in and spend a lot of time on the road,” Du Plessis said.

“Test cricket now is the most important thing but also the T20 World Cup is not too far away and there isn’t a lot - I reckon 20 T20s over the season - which won’t be that hard on one to do that. Those conversations have already taken place and will continue to before the next T20 series starts,” he added.

There is no doubt the new management around the Proteas would be tempting for De Villiers. ABD was the member of the Tshwane Spartans team that lost to the Rocks on Monday evening.

Interestingly, De Villiers also shared a long and fond relation with the new acting director Graeme Smith and interim chief executive Jacques Faul. Du Plessis.

“A lot can change in a week. We’ve seen that first-hand. It was the dark ages last week and there’s a little bit of light this week and that’s very good,” he said.

“It’s very important, it will help the dressing room and even the supporters supporting the team. Everyone wants the team to do well, everyone wants to make sure we get the right people in the right positions.

It’s good that there is a bit of positivity around in and there’s excitement in the air, myself included. I am very excited with the start of this new journey.”

South Africa cricket are set to convene this week in preparation for the Boxing Day Test against England.

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