South Africa ODI captain AB De Villiers may miss test series against Australia to be played in Australia. South Africa will play 3 match test matches in November.
He made his test debut for South Africa in 2004. De Villiers so far has missed only two-match test series played against New Zealand that took place last month. Now it seems he may be ruled out from three-match test series starting from November 3 and also the five-match ODI series against Australia starting next week.
“About six weeks ago he (de Villiers) was diagnosed with a left elbow injury,” South Africa team manager Dr. Mohammed Moosajee told a media conference prior to the Proteas’ training session at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg today.
“At the time, the recommendation was specifically to have a period of rest, physiotherapy, and aggressive rehabilitation.
“He has subsequently seen an elbow specialist, the area was infiltrated with cortisone and he has what we commonly refer to as an impingement syndrome.
“Sometimes, this does settle with the conservative approach of rest, rehab, and the cortisone infiltration, but unfortunately, in AB’s case it hasn’t been so and with that in mind, we’ve given him an extended period of rest which is another week.
“We will re-assess on Tuesday when … a call will be made.
“It’s not ideal, but what can you do,” Domingo said today in confirming that Faf du Plessis – who led South Africa in the recent Test series against New Zealand – will captain the Proteas’ ODI line-up against Ireland in de Villiers’ absence.
“We’ve just got to move on, it’s difficult to replace a player of AB’s ability but it’s a great opportunity for somebody to make a play and do something massive for the team.
AB De Villiers’ ability to change the game with his power hitting will be a big miss for South Africa. If he misses the test series against Australia, it will be a bigger blow for the South African team to miss a player of AB De Villiers class.