AB de Villiers has been playing in the T20 leagues since retiring in 2018. (Source: Reuters)AB de Villiers will be playing in England’s T20 Blast competition for Middlesex County Cricket Club it has been claimed by a report. As per a Cricbuzz report, the former South Africa batsman will have the deal announced this week. The formal announcement will state that the explosive batsman will be lining up for the Lord’s-based club in the tournament beginning mid-July.
De Villiers retired from all formats of the game in a shock announcement last May. This followed a decorated return to the Test arena in 2018-19, his final Test Match capping a 3-1 home win over Australia in a series where he scored 421 runs at an average of 71.16.
At the time of retirement, the 35-year-old made it clear that he was keen to continue on the T20 circuit, which included confirmation that he will continue to feature for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.
In January’s Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), he was on the winning side in each of the six games he played for the Ranpur Riders, smashing 100 not out in 50 balls in a successful chase against Dhaka Dynamite.
There was speculation that de Villiers will return to the South African ODI team for this year’s World Cup in England, but he refused to make any such commitment.
Middlesex finished bottom of their group last season, winning just two of their 14 games. By contrast, de Villiers has only reinforced since retiring from international cricket that he remains at the very peak of his world-beating T20 powers.
