AB de Villiers to miss Australia series

Johannesburg, South Africa captain AB De Villiers has been ruled out of the ODI and Test series against Australia after failing to recover from an elbow injury, Cricket South Africa said on Tuesday.
De Villiers is to have surgery on his left elbow after failing a fitness Test on Tuesday ahead of the five-match ODI home series which starts on Friday.
He will also miss the three-game Test series in Australia in November which includes a first day-night five-day match for South Africa. “AB de Villiers is still symptomatic and has not recovered from his elbow impingement injury which makes surgery the only long-term solution,” team manager Mohammed Moosajee said in a statement.
“We have tried the conservative management of rest, physio, rehab and cortisone infiltration into the elbow, but that has not yielded the results that we would have liked. He will have surgery to the elbow early next week and the target is to hopefully have him back for the Sri Lankan home series over the Christmas period,” he added. Rilee Rossouw will replace De Villiers for the ODI series. — Reuters
Khawaja, Smith peerless in Ireland rout
Benoni (South Africa): Usman Khawaja and captain Steve Smith shared an unbeaten 126-run partnership as Australia romped to a nine-wicket win in a one-day international against Ireland at Willowmoore Park today. Khawaja made 82 not out and Smith an unbeaten 59 as Australia chased down a modest target of 199 with 19.5 overs to spare. It was a second heavy defeat in a row for Ireland, who lost by 206 runs against South Africa at the same venue on Sunday, but set the scene for what Smith expects to be a tough five-match ODI series between South Africa and Australia, starting on Friday. Ireland let slip a promising start, collapsing from 121 for two in the 24th over to 198 all out.
Brief scores: Ireland: 198 (Anderson 39, Zampa 3/37); Australia: 199/1 (Khawaja 82*, Smith 59*).