AB set for elbow op, out of Australia series

Cape Town - South Africa will be without star batsman and captain AB de Villiers for the home and away series against Australia, as he will undergo an elbow operation next week.

De Villiers, who missed the Tests against New Zealand recently, underwent a fitness Test on Tuesday morning and failed it, thus ruling him out of the ODI series at home against the Aussies.

The operation also means he will miss the Tests in Australia, including a day-night Test, which is a heavy blow for the Proteas as he is the skipper and best batsman.

Proteas team manager, Mohammed Moosajee, commented: “AB de Villiers is still symptomatic and has not recovered from his elbow impingement injury which makes surgery the only long-term solution. We have tried the conservative management of rest, physio, rehab and cortisone infiltration into the elbow, but that has not yielded the results that we would have liked. He will have surgery to the elbow early next week and the target is to hopefully have him back for the Sri Lankan home series over the Christmas period.”

Rilee Rossouw will remain with the squad for the five-match ODI series against Australia starting at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

Proteas squad:

Faf du Plessis (Titans, captain), Kyle Abbott (Warriors), Hashim Amla (Cape Cobras), Farhaan Behardien (Titans), Quinton de Kock (Titans), JP Duminy (Cape Cobras), Imran Tahir (Dolphins), David Miller (Knights), Wayne Parnell (Cape Cobras), Aaron Phangiso (Highveld Lions), Andile Phehlukwayo (Dolphins), Kagiso Rabada (Highveld Lions), Rilee Rossouw (Knights), Tabraiz Shamsi (Titans), Dale Steyn (Cape Cobras)
 
Tour itinerary:
 
Friday, September 30: 1st ODI, South Africa v Australia, SuperSport Park, 13:30
Sunday, October 2: 2nd ODI, South Africa v Australia, Wanderers, 10:00
Wednesday, October 5: 3rd ODI, South Africa v Australia, Kingsmead, 13:30
Sunday, October 9: 4th ODI, South Africa v Australia, St George’s Park, 10:00
Wednesday, October 12: 5th ODI, South Africa v Australia, Newlands, 13:30

#CSAnews @ABdeVilliers17 has failed a fitness & is ruled out of the Australia home & away series. He will have an elbow op next week. pic.twitter.com/3nadQgPNid

— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) September 27, 2016