AB De Villiers rules himself out of contention for South Africa's Test series with England

AB de Villiers will not be available to South Africa for the Test series with England this summer.

De Villiers announced on Tuesday that he would not be taking part in the series in New Zealand, but said he was not thinking about retiring from Tests.

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He has been out with an elbow injury since July but could return to the international fold for the third Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka next week.

De Villiers, whose long-term target is the 2019 World Cup in England, was expected to be back for the July series but confirmed on Wednesday that would not be the case.

"I'm just not ready yet," he said. "I'm aware of my elbow. The surgeon said it will be normal. I'm feeling really confident.

"There is a lot of cricket, but the situation has changed for me - my priorities have changed.

"Playing three formats it felt like the world is on my shoulder. The IPL has become part of the ICC set-up, you won't see me at any other leagues. I'll only be playing IPL and for South Africa.

"It's not an easy decision, for sure... the England series (especially).

"I wouldn't like to think it's the end - I'd still like to make that comeback, finish on a high and somehow have a say in us getting that number one ranking which we deserve for the way we've played over the last few months.

"It's definitely not the end of the story."

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