South Africa captain Faf du Plessis said that the news that retired all-rounder AB de Villiers wanted to get back into the World Cup squad was both positive and negative, but that it was “way, way too late” when de Villiers called the skipper to express his feelings on the eve of the team announcement.

“We do feel like the news came in and came in like, just went through the team, didn’t have a huge impact, Faf said.

“There was just a discussion on on clarity and on making sure that everyone knows what’s going on. And then it was moving on. The team was happy to just get on with business, but it is stuff like that generally, you feel like it can make, you give you direction in your team and give you purpose to focus on what lies ahead.”