South Africa after their 3rd straight loss against India in the ongoing World Cup have made their chances difficult of qualifying for Semi Finals. Prior to the match against India, South Africa had to deal with another bad news that their premier fast bowler Dale Steyn had not recovered fully from injury and as a result was ruled out completely from participating in this World Cup.
If this news was not enough for South Africa Cricket fans, There came another controversial news in the Guardian newspaper that their star batsmen who retired recently – A.B deVilliers offered to reverse his international retirement in April 2019 to play for South Africa but this request was not granted by Cricket South Africa board as conveyed by South Africa Cricket Convenor of selectors Linda Zondi.
However, a day after the Proteas crashed to their third successive World Cup defeat, Cricket South Africa confirmed De Villiers had approached the board around the time the preliminary squad was announced.
De Villiers had the backing of the coach, Ottis Gibson, and captain, Faf Du Plessis, but the convener of selectors, Linda Zondi, felt including the 35-year-old would have been unfair to those who had stepped into the breach.
In a statement Zondi said: “I pleaded with AB De Villiers not to retire in 2018.
“Although there was a perception that he was picking and choosing when to play – which was not true – I did give him the option to plan and monitor his season to get him to the World Cup fresh and in a good space.
“We made it clear that he would have to play during the home tours against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to be considered for selection. Instead he signed to play in the Pakistan and Bangladesh Premier Leagues respectively. He turned down the offer and said he was at peace with his decision to retire.
“For Faf Du Plessis and Ottis Gibson to share AB’s desire to be included in the squad on the day we announced our World Cup squad on 18 April was a shock to all of us.
“AB left a big vacuum when he retired. We had a year to find players at franchise level to fill the gap. We had players who put in the hard work, who put up their hands and deserved to be given the opportunity to go to the World Cup.
“The decision was based on principle; we had to be fair to the team, the selection panel, our franchise system and players.
“At no point in the year that he had retired did he make himself available for selection. It was no option when I received the news on the day of the squad announcement, our squad was finalised and confirmed.
After this news and post Steyn getting ruled out, South Africa had opted for pacer Beuran Hendricks as replacement. Hendricks is yet to play in this World Cup.
South Africa Cricket team fans who play bet online south africa might feel their team still has a chance to get in to the World Cup Semi finals as they still have match winners in the team like Faf Du Plessis, Hashim Amla, David Miller, Imran Tahir. Who can turn a match in South Africa’s favour on any day
Many sports betting sites are still betting on South Africa to win their next matches against West Indies on 10th June vs New Zealand on 19th June and against Pakistan on 23rd June. If they go on to lose even 1 game then South Africa will need to depend on other teams in order for them to qualify for the Semi Finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
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