Cape Town - Former star Proteas batsman AB de Villiers reportedly made a last-gasp effort to make himself available for South Africa's Cricket World Cup campaign.

Cricket specialist website ESPNcricinfo revealed on Thursday that De Villiers last month approached South African team management 24 hours before the Proteas team was named for the World Cup, informing them that he was willing to make a return.

The report added that South African team management turned down De Villiers' request.

Reasons behind the decision to turn down De Villiers are believed to be because he did not fulfil the selection criteria leading up to the squad announcement, which included playing South African domestic cricket or international cricket, and that a recall would have been unfair on the players who had been part of the team set-up.

In May last year, De Villiers bowed out of international cricket as one of the greatest players to have represented South Africa, having played 114 Tests, 228 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and 78 T20 Internationals.

He retired with an incredible Test average of 50.66 and as the fourth-highest run-scorer for South Africa with 8 765 runs (22 centuries). His exploits in the limited-overs formats were extraordinary, and he finished as the No 2 ranked player in the world and as the second highest run-scorer behind Jacques Kallis with 9 577 runs at an average of 53.50.

The news comes as the Proteas are struggling in the Cricket World Cup, with Wednesday's six-wicket loss to India their third in as many matches.