Morkel denies rumours about ABD's retirement

South African media had come out with reports suggesting that AB de Villiers, the Proteas’ ODI captain was contemplating quitting Test cricket after the England series. However, fast bowler, Morne Morkel has denied any such development with regard to South Africa’s best player in all three formats of the game.

Rapport, a South African newspaper publication reported that many of the de Villiers’ current and former teammates revealed that certain developments in recent years in South African cricket have made de Villiers considers his future in the longest format of the game.

The newspaper claimed that an injury-stricken Vernon Philander's selection ahead of an in-form Kyle Abbott in the 2015 ICC World Cup semi-final against New Zealand, in spite of having a hamstring injury is just one of the many reasons that have led to de Villiers’ disappointment with the current state of South African cricket affairs.

Morkel dismissed any possibility of de Villiers hanging up his boots and considered these reports as mere speculation.

“I think it is a story. He is still very keen to play for South Africa and to break records,” Morkel said.

The bowler described further how influential de Villiers has been for the South African squad on and off the field.

“AB is the ultimate sportsman. He is the rock of our batting line-up. Even though there was a lot of pressure on him, he has seen this movie before and he knows how to play it. The talks he gives in the dressing room give us a lot of hope. It's very inspiring and every dressing room would love to have him,” Morkel explained.

Cricket South Africa’s transformation to include at least six players of colour in every team in the South African cricket setup has also been extended to the national squad too. Of the six players, at least three of them are required to be black African. Since the World Cup semi-final, the Proteas have played at least one black African in their national team in all formats.

There are reports that claim that these transformation issues were the primary reasons for Graeme Smith's retirement from cricket. If the reports are to be believed, de Villiers was upset about the way that ‘interference’ did not allow him to choose his best squad for the semi-final.

The same newspaper also claims that Dale Steyn and Philander, who have been struggling with injuries in the last few years, are also considering retiring from the game.

Whether there is any truth to all of this remains to be seen over the next few weeks. South Africa are currently playing the first Test against England in Durban, and will play three more Tests in Cape Town, Johannesburg and the Centurion.

Only as the series progresses will anything concrete regarding the possible ‘retirement’ of one of the all-time greats will be revealed more. One thing that is certain is cricket fans all over the world will hope these are just rumours and that they will get to see more of de Villiers’ exquisite batting for at least a few more years.