Titans retain de Villiers in squad

AB de Villiers will remain part of the Titans squad for the Champions League T20 despite his back injury although he's still unlikely to take any part in the tournament with concerns about him being fit for South Africa's tour of Australia.

De Villiers returned from the World Twenty20 with a number of injury concerns, the most serious of which is his back, and Mohammed Moosajee, the South African team manager, has confirmed to ESPNcricinfo that the priority remains having him ready for Australia rather than there being any realistic chance of him appearing at the CLT20.

Matthew Maynard, the Titans coach, said: "AB is currently undergoing an extensive back rehabilitation and strengthening program. He is an extremely valuable player and we hope that we could use him during the latter stages of the tournament."

"Even if he doesn't play, having AB in the squad will still be a benefit to us as his experience and knowledge of the game will rub off onto the rest of the team."

De Villiers has taken on a huge workload in recent months following the enforced retirement of Mark Boucher at the start of the England tour. He became the wicketkeeper-batsman across all three formats while he also captains South Africa in ODIs and Twenty20s.

However, de Villiers has previously indicated he does want to shelve any of his roles: "I am enjoying the captaincy so much, it's something I wouldn't like to give up," he said. "Batting for the team and taking the gloves for the side, knowing the position I am playing in is better for the side and we can win more games, that gives me a lot of pleasure. If I miss out on a year at the end of my career so be it but we should win games."

Thami Tsolekile, who was called up to the England tour after Boucher's injury against Somerset, has been included in the Test squad and one of the key decisions the South African management will have to make at the start of that tour is whether he takes over from de Villiers behind the stumps.