De Villiers to undergo crunch fitness test next week

JOHANNESBURG: South African captain and star batsman AB de Villiers will undergo a fitness test on Tuesday to determine if he needs surgery that would rule him out of the Test series with Australia.

The world’s number one-ranked One-day International batsman is already out of the one-off ODI against Ireland in Benoni on Sunday because of the persistent elbow injury.

And if he fails the fitness test next week he will need surgery, ruling him out of the one-day series against Australia starting next Friday and the Test series in Australia in November.

South African team manager Mohammed Moosajee acknowledged that de Villiers’ spectacular hitting, especially in limited-overs cricket, had contributed to the problem.

“When he plays certain cricket shots, he gets excruciating pain in the left elbow,” said Moosajee.

De Villiers, 32, has become a virtual year-round cricketer, playing in all formats for South Africa as well as in Twenty20 tournaments such as the Indian Premier League and Caribbean Premier League, where his ability to score at a dizzying rate has made him a crowd favourite.