Tired De Villiers quits after ‘running out of gas’

AB de Villiers retired from international cricket yesterday, saying he had “run out of gas”, but his departure will once again put the spotlight on the battle between country and franchise Twenty20 cricket.

De Villiers has walked away from international cricket before for long spells, but this time has announced it is over for good, stunning South African cricket a year before the World Cup in England.

Winning that tournament remained one of his final ambitions but De Villiers, 34, has decided he has had enough.

He said a month ago that he would sit down and discuss his future with Cricket South Africa but in a video released on social media he said: “I’ve had my turn and, to be honest, I’m tired. This is a tough decision.

“I’ve thought long and hard about it and I’d like to retire still playing decent cricket. It would not be right for me to pick and choose where, when and in what format I play for the Proteas. For me, in green and gold, it must be everything or nothing.”

De Villiers will continue to play in the Indian Premier League but says at this stage he has no plans to play in other Twenty20 leagues outside South Africa. However, he will be a wanted man and will be offered big deals to play in Australia’s Big Bash, Caribbean Premier League and Pakistan Super League.

He would also be an ideal frontman for the Hundred competition the England and Wales Cricket Board is launching in 2020 but it is understood he will not play county cricket like his former team-mate Morne Morkel, who has joined Surrey after his recent test retirement.

“It’s not about earning more somewhere else, it’s about running out of gas and feeling that it is the right time to move on. Everything comes to an end,” he said. “To the cricket fans around South Africa and the world, thank you for your kindness and generosity, and today, for your understanding.”

De Villiers retires having just played a starring role in crushing Australia in South Africa, a test series defeat that led to the implosion of the Australian team. He had not played test cricket for two years until returning for tests against India and Australia. He scored eight 50s and a century and said he was enjoying his cricket as much as at any time in his career but rumours about retirement were never far away.

South African cricketers are among the lowest paid in world cricket and are ripe for plucking by Twenty20 leagues or English counties. De Villiers played for 12 years and appeared in 114 tests and 228 one-day internationals. He was one of cricket’s genuine world stars alongside Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle.

“AB is one of the few players that kids around the world watch and say they want to be like,” said Joe Root, the England captain. “When he comes out and bats, I want to sit and watch, because of the way he bats. He’s done tremendous things in the game.”

Those include hitting the fastest one-day international hundred in history when he scored a century off just 31 balls against West Indies in 2015.