Cricket SA on AB saga: The chapter is closed

Cape Town - The AB de Villiers chapter is now closed.

This was the firm statement made by Cricket South Africa (CSA) CEO Thabang Moroe at a KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar in George on Monday.

News broke last month alleging that retired De Villiers had made himself available to the national side just hours before the Cricket World Cup squad was announced on April 18.

At the time, CSA's convenor of selectors Linda Zondi said that he had heard of De Villiers' availability on the morning of the squad announcement, while Proteas coach Ottis Gibson said he had also only heard from De Villiers in the hours before the announcement.

The news came fresh off the Proteas' third successive defeat in the Cricket World Cup, which included the shocking demise against Bangladesh.

This in turn led to a public outcry over De Villiers' omission from the 15-man squad.

READ: Ray Jennings: AB's World Cup U-turn is a 'rubbish story'

However, it's been nearly a month since the revelations broke and with South Africa's elimination from the tournament now confirmed, CSA want to put the 'AB incident' behind them.

"It wasn't an ideal time for this (situation) to come out," Moroe admitted.

"I think there hasn't been a need for me to address this. We picked a squad of 15 players and at no point did we come out saying we are not supporting any player. So irrespective of any other player that would've wanted to come out of retirement, not only AB alone.

"As far as my end and the board is concerned, the chapter is closed. If there is anything else it'll probably be coming from the team or AB himself."

De Villiers has yet to comment publicly on the matter.