South Africa captain AB de Villiers is to skip Sunday’s one-day international against Ireland to allow further recovery time from an elbow injury ahead of a five-match series against Australia. His availability for the home series against Australia, which starts next week, would be subject to him passing a fitness test, Cricket South Africa said on Thursday De Villiers missed the recent series win over New Zealand due to the injury, which was the first time he has been forced to sit out a test since his debut in 2004.
“AB has been on a rigorous rehabilitation and treatment plan for the last six weeks but is still complaining of pain in the elbow region,” team manager Mohammed Moosajee said in a statement. “We hope that the extra time will allow the injury to respond to treatment.”
Faf du Plessis will captain the team in the one-off match against Ireland in Benoni, near Johannesburg, and Rilee Rossouw has been added to the squad as batting cover.
