'AB de Villiers will play T20 World Cup 2020 if he makes himself available' - Mark Boucher

South Africa coach Mark Boucher, on Sunday, confirmed that AB de Villiers will be a part of the team for this year’s T20 World Cup if he makes himself available. Boucher’s comments came while he was addressing the media after the end of the third T20I against England. England beat the Proteas by five wickets to clinch the three-match series 2-1.

De Villiers announced his retirement from international cricket in May 2018, citing workload. Since then, he has been busy playing in franchise cricket across the globe. The former South Africa captain did try to take a u-turn in 2019 ahead of the 50-over World Cup but did not receive any support from the team management.

At that time, South Africa had said that they turned down de Villiers’ request because he had snubbed a request to play in two ODIs leading up to the tournament. However, Boucher has made it clear that there would be no such situation this time around. The former wicketkeeper also stated that he has been in touch with de Villiers. Boucher stated that ego would not come in the way as he is keen to take the strongest team to Australia for the marquee event.

“He’s a discussion in the media and in the public but he is no discussion for me. I have had chats with him and we will probably know pretty soon what’s going to happen with him,” Boucher was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying. “Like I said from day one when I took over, if we are going to a World Cup, I would like to have our best players there.

“If AB is in good form and he is raring to go and he makes himself available for the time we have asked him to be available; if he is the best man for the job, then he must go. It’s not about egos or anything like that, it’s about sending your best team to the World Cup to try and win that competition,” he added.

De Villiers could make a sensational comeback to the South Africa team in the upcoming series against Australia which includes three T20Is and three ODIs. The right-handed batsman recently played in the Big Bash League and looked in fine touch.

Mark Boucher defends South Africa bowlers

Mark Boucher further defended the South Africa bowlers after their poor show in the third T20I. The hosts looked set to win the game and clinch the series after posting a mammoth total of 222 at SuperSport Park. However, England chased down the big total with five balls remaining to end the tour on a winning note.

“The bowling has, at times, been very good. We’ve got wicket-taking ability but as a unit we are not hitting our straps enough and there are a couple too many soft options. If we can clean that act up then I think we are going in the right direction,” Boucher said.

“We did speak about trying to nail more yorkers but it’s difficult to train those sort of things because we play, we travel, we play, we travel,” he said. “I don’t think the skill is where it should be and that’s something we need to work on. We are looking at a camp that we can put together so that we can work on particular things with our bowlers and our batters,” he added.

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