De Villiers quits as SA ODI skipper
AFP
AFP, JOHANNESBURG: Star batsman AB de Villiers quit as South Africa one-day international (ODI) skipper Wednesday, but committed to representing his country in all three cricket formats.
Faf du Plessis has proved to be an outstanding captain of the Twenty20 (T20) and Test teams, he said in a statement.
Bearing this in mind, I have informed Cricket South Africa that I would like to step down as ODI captain.
It has been an honour to lead the team for the past six years, but it is now time for someone else to take the ODI side forward.
Whoever is chosen as the new ODI captain will have my complete support.
De Villiers last skippered the ODI team two months ago in the Champions Trophy in England, where South Africa failed to reach the semi-finals after defeats by Pakistan and India.
He has averaged 53.56 runs in 221 appearances in the one-day format since debuting against England 12 years ago.
De Villiers rejected media claims that he was cherry-picking when to play for South Africa and putting himself before the team.
That is simply not true. That has never been true. Playing for South Africa is, and will always be, the greatest privilege of my life, he said.
He missed the recent 3-1 Test series defeat in England, last playing for South Africa in the longest format at the beginning of 2016.
