De Villiers must live with retirement decision: SA coach

SOUTHAMPTON, June 8 

Coach Ottis Gibson says AB de Villiers will have to “live with the decision he has made” after the batsman attempted to come out of international retirement on the eve of South Africa’s squad announcement for the World Cup. Cricket South Africa confirmed this week that de Villiers had approached captain Faf du Plessis and Gibson about a return to the side following his self-imposed exit from the team last May, after which he took part in a number of T20 tournaments. The approach was rebuffed by the national selectors. “I don’t think you should have to beg a guy to play for his country but I did make it clear to him that I thought he was making a bad decision (by retiring last year) and that he could help us win the World Cup,” a clearly irritated Gibson said. 

“Since he has retired we have won every series we’ve played, and I haven’t had many AB questions. Suddenly we’ve come to the World Cup and we’ve had one bad week, and AB is the saviour. But AB has retired. He’s made his decision. We have to live with the decision he has made. He has to live with the decision he has made,” he added. Gibson says he found the whole episode “strange”, especially as de Villiers has repeatedly claimed he was happy in international retirement. — Reuters