AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers (Credits: Twitter)

Former South Africa batsman AB de Villiers will not have the added burden of captaincy in the forthcoming season of Mzansi Premier League. The second edition of the league will get underway on 8 November and Tshwane Spartans will have a new captain in place of AB de Villiers. The former Proteas skipper had a poor run as captain last year.

Under AB de Villiers, the Spartans had finished at the fifth spot in the six-team competition. The Spartans had managed to win just 4 of their 10 games. Coach Mark Boucher, on Wednesday, confirmed that the team will have a new captain for this year’s tournament. Spartans boast talent like Dean Elgar, Wiaan Mulder, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Heinrich Klaasen.

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“AB won’t be captain, we’ve discussed that,” said Boucher.

“He’s a fantastic player but he must go out there and play and perform like he’s been performing in the last while,” added Boucher.

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AB de Villiers
AB de Villiers. (Credits: Getty Images)

Boucher said that the team is keen on relieving de Villiers of the captaincy burden so that the batsman can enjoy his game.

“We have a few leadership options, we’ll talk to them and see how they feel. I don’t think AB needs that burden, he’s in that stage of his life where he must enjoy his cricket and that’s probably when he plays his best,” said Boucher.

As with all the squads the Spartans can make an additional ‘wild card’ pick after the domestic Provincial T20 Knockout Challenge that will be played between September 13 and 23.

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TSHWANE SPARTANS SQUAD:

AB de Villiers, Tom Curran, Lungi Ngidi, Theunis de Bruyn, Lutho Sipamla, Tony de Zorzi, Morné Morkel, Heinrich Klaasen, Roelof van der Merwe, Pite van Biljon, Waqar Salamkheil, Dean Elgar, Wiaan Mulder, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Corbin Bosch

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