Ken Borland

AB de Villiers has turned down the chance to play for South Africa again in this year’s T20 World Cup because of his struggle to deal with coming into the team at this late stage and taking the place of someone who has been with the Proteas for a while, according to national coach Mark Boucher.

With South Africa’s T20 side battling in recent times – they have won just five of their 19 matches in the last two years – speculation was rife that De Villiers, who is still imperious in the IPL, would come out of retirement to boost the Proteas’ World Cup challenge. Both Boucher and De Villiers have spoken recently about having talks in this regard.

But on Tuesday, Cricket South Africa announced the squads for next month’s tour of the West Indies and said “discussions with AB de Villiers have concluded with the batsman deciding once and for all that his retirement will remain final.”

Boucher told The Citizen on Tuesday that he was disappointed but the Proteas now had to simply move forward without one of the best batsmen in the world.

“AB has his reasons, which I respect. Unfortunately he’s no longer in the mix. I say unfortunately because I think we all agree that he’s still one of the best – if not the best – T20 players in world cricket. But he alluded to being concerned about coming in ahead of other players who have been a part of the system. I don’t think it sat well with him, which I understand.

“But as a coach I needed to try and get our best players, for the team and the environment. AB is an energy-booster in any environment, but I respect his reasoning. It was worth a go, but now let’s move forward,” Boucher said.

South Africa’s white-ball squad for the West Indies tour features the return of superstars Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Anrich Nortje from IPL duty, while Temba Bavuma is also back after missing the T20s against Pakistan due to injury and will become the first Black African to lead the Proteas T20 side.

The same squad will do duty for the T20s and ODIs in Ireland, with the addition of Maharaj, who has been a major figure in the Dolphins’ 50-over success.

Off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen and pace bowler Lizaad Williams have both been added to the Test squad that played in Pakistan, with Faf du Plessis having retired and seamers Lutho Sipamla, Daryn Dupavillon and Dwaine Pretorius all having been left out.

A right-arm off-spinner with a top-class record in domestic cricket over the last two seasons has been called up for the Proteas Test squad that will tour the West Indies next month.

No, not Simon Harmer but Dolphins star Prenelan Subrayen, who has taken 57 wickets in 11 matches in the last two seasons at an average of just 22.73. The 27-year-old played a key role in the KZN franchise winning the four-day competition last season and was particularly outstanding in the final, taking six for 24 to bowl the Titans out for a record low of just 53 and then picking up another four wickets in the second innings.

Harmer has signed for Northerns for next season’s new-look domestic competitions but has not played a four-day match in South Africa since January 2019, notwithstanding his incredible displays in English county cricket, where he has taken 284 wickets since 2017.

Subrayen will join fellow spinners Keshav Maharaj, George Linde and Tabraiz Shamsi in the squad for the two Tests against the West Indies.

“Subrayen has had two wonderful four-day seasons now and, if conditions in St Lucia are, as we expect, like in Pakistan then we’ll need a lot of spinners. That gives us a lot of options and we need that variety of two orthodox left-armers in Maharaj and Linde, a wrist-spinner in Shamsi and the off-spin that Prenelan provides against a batting line-up that has had a lot of left-handers in the past,” convenor of selectors Victor Mpitsang told The Citizen on Tuesday.

South Africa will be defending a titanic record in the Caribbean – since they lost their epic debut Test match there in 1991/92, they have won all three series played there – and will be without retired veteran batsman Faf du Plessis. But the selectors have not replaced him with a batsman, Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verreynne and Sarel Erwee all providing cover as they did in Pakistan earlier this year.

Instead, Lizaad Williams, who made his white-ball debut for the Proteas at the end of last season, gets his first call-up to the Test squad, with Daryn Dupavillon, Dwaine Pretorius and Lutho Sipamla all axed from the squad named for the Tests in Pakistan.

South Africa’s white-ball squads feature the return of superstars Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje from IPL duty. Temba Bavuma is also back to lead the side after missing the T20s against Pakistan due to injury.

The same squad will do duty for the T20s and ODIs in Ireland, with the addition of Maharaj, who has been a major figure in the Dolphins’ 50-over success.

Proteas squads

Test – Dean Elgar (capt), Aiden Markram, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Keegan Petersen, Quinton de Kock, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Tabraiz Shamsi, Sarel Erwee, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Prenelan Subrayen, Marco Jansen.

T20/ODI – Quinton de Kock, Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (capt), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, George Linde, Andile Phehlukwayo, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dwaine Pretorius, Janneman Malan, Heinrich Klaasen, Kyle Verreynne, Reeza Hendricks, Lizaad Williams, Sisanda Magala, Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj (for Ireland).

*Zubayr Hamza will lead the South Africa A squads that will travel to Zimbabwe for four 50-over-matches and two four-dayers against their counterparts in Harare from 29 May to 16 June.

South Africa A One-Day squad – Ryan Rickelton, Janneman Malan, Reeza Hendricks, Zubayr Hamza, Tony de Zorzi, Dwaine Pretorius, Andile Phehlukwayo, Sisanda Magala, Junior Dala, Lutho Sipamla, Senuran Muthusamy, Daryn Dupavillon, Glenton Stuurman, Theunis de Bruyn, Wihan Lubbe, Sinethemba Qeshile.

South Africa A Four-Day squad – Dominic Hendricks, Eddie Moore, Zubayr Hamza, Raynard van Tonder, Theunis de Bruyn, Senuran Muthusamy, Sinethemba Qeshile, Miguel Pretorius, Daryn Dupavillon, Glenton Stuurman, Lutho Sipamla, Dayyaan Galiem, Okuhle Cele, Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Tshepo Ntuli.

Morne Steyn is not just a sharpshooter with the boot but also one of the straightest arrows one would hope to meet as a person, and on Tuesday he confirmed he is delighted to be in the Springboks’ plans for the British and Irish Lions tour because he did not return to Pretoria to merely wind down his career.

Steyn’s Bulls team have had the wood over all other local opposition over the last year and the 36-year-old flyhalf has played a key role in their success, his game-management being spot-on and his kicking as accurate as ever, while he has also helped their backline to be especially penetrative.

The Springboks brains trust of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have recognised that Steyn still has all the attributes one would want from a Test flyhalf, so he has been part of their alignment camps this year.

“I’m in the Springbok group and hoping for the best. I’m a very competitive guy, whether I’m playing against Griquas or whoever, I always want to be the best flyhalf on the field. I didn’t come to Loftus to sit on the bench or help the youngsters, and playing for the Springboks is always your main goal playing in South Africa, although I didn’t feel any pressure to do it.

“It would be a bonus, not something you bargain on when you played your last Test in 2016. Now it’s five years later and I could be one of the senior guys who the youngsters look up to, like Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez were when I made my Springbok debut against the Lions in 2009. Few people get to play the Lions twice, so I would be very blessed if it happens,” Steyn said on Tuesday.

Steyn did not play for South Africa again after a then-record 57-15 defeat against the All Blacks in Durban in October 2016, but now, after all these years, the Springboks look set to return to the veteran of 66 Tests, alongside World Cup winners Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies.

“It’s a whole different era now, the last time I played the Lions, I was the new oke and they were my first Tests. Now things are going very well with the Bulls, experience plays a role and the body is still feeling good. I do look after my body, I enjoy stretching and recovery and I did gymnastics at school, so I think that flexibility helps. I can still do what the younger guys do.

“Now my career is coming the whole circle and I hope to finish on a high. With the quality youngsters coming through at the Bulls there’s certainly a bright future there and as long as I’m still running at the front, as long as I don’t struggle to get up in the morning or come to training, I’ll take it year-by-year. The body still feels good and my mind is ready to go,” Steyn said.

Former World Cup winning flyhalf Joel Stransky is far from suggesting it is all blue skies with the standard of South African domestic rugby at the moment, and he says the Springboks have a perfectly good pair of No.10s in Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies, and yet he still believes in-form Bulls pivot Morne Steyn needs to be chosen for the squad to play the British and Irish Lions in July.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber is set to call on more than 40 players for the Springbok squad and Steyn has been involved in the alignment camps held by Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus. The 36-year-old star of the 2009 Lions tour has played a pivotal role in the Bulls’ dominance of local rugby over the last year and he produced a man of the match display when they hammered the top-of-the-log Sharks last weekend.

“Firstly, Morne was and still is a great player. But if Pollard and Jantjies were both here and firing, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. But there is a bit of concern over the flyhalf position and there should always be a place for that kind of experience and the way Morne’s delivering on the field at the moment – the way he’s controlling the game, leading from No.10.

“So I absolutely think he should be involved but will he be our No.1 flyhalf? I think if Pollard is fit then he’ll be first-choice, but Morne could maybe even be involved in a mentoring capacity, or as back-up. You know what you’re going to get with Morne, and he is standing up and shining, no mater how weak or strong you think the local competition is,” Stransky told The Citizen on Monday.

While there is no shred of a doubt that Pollard is playing in a top-class league for Montpellier in the French Top 14 and will be appearing in the Challenge Cup final this weekend, Jantjies was outstanding for relegation-threatened Pau last weekend, scoring 19 points and nearly steering them to an upset win over the formidable Racing 92 team.

Stransky believes domestic rugby in South Africa has been a hit-and-miss affair.

“The quality has not been great, although there have been some good signs at times, and that has maybe allowed a guy like Morne to shine. If our rugby was fast and furious, of tiptop quality, then we maybe would be having a slightly different conversation. But I don’t feel our games have been of the highest quality. But you also can’t deny Morne is standing up and delivering,” Stransky said.