Danger man de Villiers back for Proteas

South Africa have announced the return to action of captain and talisman AB de Villiers ahead of their ODI series opener against England on Wednesday night in Leeds.

De Villiers missed the Proteas' warm-up tour matches due to a respiratory tract infection, but in a huge boost for the visiting side, the world's No.1 ODI batsman has confirmed he is fine to take his place at Headingley.

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Both sides are using the three-match series as valuable practice in the lead-up to the ICC Champions Trophy, which begins next Thursday, June 1.

"It doesn't get any better than playing in England before a big tournament against the hosts in a competitive ODI series," de Villiers said.

"The trick is to make sure that you still perform well; there is no use going down and feeling low on confidence going into the tournament.

"The secret for us is to compete as well as we can and try to get out on top in this series to go to the Champions Trophy feeling like we can beat anyone."

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South Africa have been notorious under-performers at major 50-over events, but an in-form de Villiers represents perhaps world cricket's most dangerous x-factor.

The 33-year-old dominated his side's 3-2 series win in New Zealand in February-March, averaging 87 with the bat as he took his side to the top of the world rankings.

De Villiers has made no secret of his desperation to claim a World Cup crown before his retirement and the Champions Trophy shapes as a perfect rehearsal for the 2019 tournament, also in England.

"It's an ICC event with the top eight teams in the world competing for a trophy, it will be a great achievement to win it," he said.

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"We know we have to go through a big process to get to the final …. we're excited to get things going."

De Villiers began the recent Indian Premier League tournament with a bang, smashing an unbeaten 89 with nine sixes, but struggled to find form thereafter, passing 30 just once in eight more innings as Royal Challengers Bangalore sank to the foot of the ladder.

His decline in output was in stark contrast to Proteas teammate Hashim Amla, who turned heads with a pair of breathtaking hundreds for Kings XI Punjab during a particularly productive campaign.

Amla heads into the series against England needing 120 runs to break Virat Kohli's record as the fastest batsman to 7000 ODI runs (from 161 innings), with 10 innings up his sleeve to achieve the feat.

The de Villiers record wrap

• Fastest to 9,000 ODI runs (205 innings)
• Owner of the fastest ODI hundred (31 balls)
• Second-highest ODI run-scorer among players taking part in the Champions Trophy (9,175, trailing only MS Dhoni's 9,275)
• Equal-sixth most ODI hundreds (24, level with Hashim Amla)
• Highest ODI batting average (54.28) (min 40 inns)
• Third-highest ODI strike-rate (100.16) (min 100 inns)
• The only player in ODI history to average 50+ and strike at 100+ (min 15 inns)



Champions Trophy 2017 Guide




Squads: Every Champions Trophy squad named so far

Group A: Australia, New Zealand, England, Bangladesh.

Group B: India, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Pakistan.




Schedule




Warm-up matches




26 May – Australia v Sri Lanka, The Oval

27 May – Bangladesh v Pakistan, Edgbaston

28 May – India v New Zealand, The Oval

29 May – Australia v Pakistan, Edgbaston

30 May – New Zealand v Sri Lanka, Edgbaston

30 May – Bangladesh vs India, The Oval




Tournament




1 June – England v Bangladesh, The Oval (Day)

2 June – Australia v New Zealand, Edgbaston (D)

3 June – Sri Lanka v South Africa, The Oval (D)

4 June – India v Pakistan, Edgbaston (D)

5 June – Australia v Bangladesh, The Oval (D/N)

6 June – England v New Zealand, Cardiff (D)

7 June – Pakistan v South Africa, Edgbaston (D/N)

8 June – India v Sri Lanka, The Oval (D)

9 June – New Zealand v Bangladesh, Cardiff (D)

10 June – England v Australia, Edgbaston (D)

11 June – India v South Africa, The Oval (D)

12 June – Sri Lanka v Pakistan, Cardiff (D)

14 June – First semi-final (A1 v B2), Cardiff (D)

15 June – Second semi-final (A2 v B1), Edgbaston (D)

18 June – Final, The Oval (D)




19 June – Reserve day (D)