South Africa coach Ottis Gibson insists the focus should be on the players he has rather than AB de Villiers’ absence from the team. De Villiers retired from all forms of international cricket in May 2018, bringing to an end a glittering career that saw him score 8,765 Test runs in addition to 9,577 in one-day internationals.
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The end of the former captain’s career left a huge void in the Proteas’ batting line-up and they have struggled in the World Cup, losing all three games to date. Reaching the semi-finals will now be tough task, and, unsurprisingly, questions have been asked.
Gibson faced the media on Saturday ahead of Monday’s cash with West Indies and was forced to defend himself and the selectors after rumours that De Villiers had offered to come out of retirement to play in the World Cup.
“Personally I suspect there are a lot of people wanting AB to be here more than AB himself,” he told a press conference. “If he wanted to be here he would be here.” He later added: “Are we going to talk about this all the time? Or are we going to prepare for the West Indies game. Feels like it’s a court case here.”
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