South African head coach Mark Boucher sets deadline for AB de Villiers' return to international cricket 

What's the story?

South African head coach, Mark Boucher has mentioned that AB de Villiers needs to make himself available before 1st June in order to be eligible to represent the Proteas in the ICC T20 World Cup 2020. Along with De Villiers, Chris Morris and Imran Tahir have also received the same deadline.

The background

Despite being one of the best batsmen in the world, De Villiers ended his international career in 2018. He mentioned that he did not have enough fuel left in his body to represent South Africa anymore. The 36-year-old wished to give more time to his family and hence, walked away from the international arena. However, he continued to play in the T20 leagues worldwide.

The heart of the matter

The Proteas are currently playing an ODI series against Australia, and Boucher said:

"We've still got quite a few games (before the World Cup). From the first of June, which is the Sri Lanka tour, those guys need to make themselves available. Whether we select them is another story. But they need to make themselves available if they want to put their hands up for a World Cup spot."

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The head coach spoke about the availability of De Villiers, Tahir and Morris in the aforementioned statement. Explaining the reason behind the deadline, Boucher added:

"The big one is the IPL so we decided to let those guys - the free agents if you want to call them that - do the IPL and then afterwards make themselves available."

South Africa have outlined a potential timeline for AB de Villiers' international return https://t.co/0T8MqW6AUt pic.twitter.com/wYvBnIfWlt

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) March 3, 2020

What's next?

It will be interesting to see if the trio can make the cut to South Africa's T20 World Cup squad. In case the three players represent South Africa in the global event, the Proteas will have a solid chance of winning the title.