Mark Boucher, who is recently appointed as the South African coach has hinted to ask AB De Villiers to come out of retirement and play for South Africa in the T20 World Cup next year.
“When you go to a World Cup, you want your best players playing for you,” the former WK batsman told ESPN Cricinfo.
“If I feel he is one of your best players, why wouldn’t I want to have a conversation with him? I’ve only just got into the job, I might have conversations with quite a few players and see where they are,” he added.
AB De Villiers is among the top 5 run-getters in the ongoing Mzansi Super League where he is coached by his former teammate Boucher. The duo is a part of Tshwane Spartans and the team will play the final of the tournament on Monday.
De Villiers who holds the record for smashing the fastest 50, 100, and 150 in the ODI format. The player fondly known as Mr. 360 has played for various franchises around the world post-retirement and has been impressive.
“You want your best players playing in the World Cup and if there’s a couple of issues you need to iron out, with media, with team-mates, and if it’s for the good of South Africa, why not, let’s do it,” said Boucher.
Mark Boucher was appointed as South Africa Men’s team head coach on 14 December 2019. A week prior to that, Cricket South Africa got a new director in the form of Graeme Smith. So there have many changes in CSA in the last few weeks. With all these changes we may see new thinking and a new way of solving some issues which are faced by South African cricket in the last few years.
Boucher played for South Africa from 1997 to 2012 and was part of the national team in all three formats. Boucher is considered among the best wicket-keeper batsmen in the world. He played 147 Tests, 295 ODIs and 25 T20Is. He had to retire early as he suffered a serious injury after a bail hit on his left eye, while he was standing as a wicket-keeper, on 9 July 2012.
On the other hand, Ab de Villiers played for South Africa from 2004 to 2018. He played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs, and 78 T20Is. On May 23, 2018, de Villiers announced his retirement, which came as a surprise to all the fans around the world. He mentioned at the time that he was tired but would play some of the T20 leagues.
South Africa will face England in a four-match Test series starting from December 26. The two teams will also lock horns in the three-match T20I and ODI series. The home series will be Boucher’s first assignment as the South African coach.
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