South Africa has produced some of the best batsmen in the world, with AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla dominating the recent ICC rankings. Previous teams and generations have included their own legends. But who are the greatest of them all? Ali Bacher and David Williams, in their new book, turn their attention to South Africa’s top batsmen. This extract focuses on AB de Villiers
Another important big hundred for AB de Villiers was against Australia at Newlands in March 2009.
Australia made 209, and South Africa replied with 651 all out – their biggest total against Australia, beating the 622 for nine declared at Durban in 1969-70. De Villiers made 163 in only 196 balls, and South Africa went on to win by an innings and 20 runs.
It was Australia’s first innings defeat in a decade, since March 1998 against India.
“De Villiers flogged a wilting attack in brilliant fashion,” writes Wisden. “A calculated assault on McDonald brought him four (all to leg) sixes off consecutive balls, making him the third batsman to achieve this feat in Test cricket after Kapil Dev and Shahid Afridi. De Villiers’s two previous scoring shots had been sixes off McGain; he hit seven in all, as well as 12 fours. His buccaneering seventh wicket stand of 124 with Morkel took only 20 overs, and ensured South Africa would reach 651. The 62 extras were also the most conceded by Australia in any Test innings.”
Ali put it to De Villiers that he is always visibly confident at the crease, enthusiastic and bustling and restless. “I enjoy showing visible energy at the crease. I’ve worked it out over 10 years – that’s what makes me a better player, and what works for me. It doesn’t work for a player like Jacques Kallis to go running around like I do – but I know if I don’t have that kind of energy, that body language, that confidence, then I’m not going to do well. I have observed and learned from my mistakes. I can’t be calm at the wicket like a Kallis, it doesn’t work for me. I like to show the opposition with my body language: if you don’t get me out, I’m winning the game here.”
Who was the best bowler he ever faced?
“I’ve always said Andrew Flintoff of England, and that’s still probably the case. His stats don’t say that he’s one of the best ever, and he’s had only one or two ‘five-fors’ in his career, but he was such a big-match player. I somehow always seemed to be up against him when the game was on the line. I remember at Edgbaston in August 2008, when we were batting to win the series and Graeme (Smith) got 154 not out. I came in at the match-breaking moment, and I had to face Flintoff.”
De Villiers made 27 that day, in a nerve-racking 97 minutes; he survived Flintoff, who had trapped Neil McKenzie and Kallis LBW, but was caught off the spinner Monty Panesar. Mark Boucher (45) then stayed with Smith to see South Africa to a famous victory.
“Flintoff was unstoppable in that match,” remembers De Villiers. “He almost won the game for them. Of course I did play against him when I was younger, and that could have something to do with how impressed I was by him.”
What about Mitchell Johnson? “Johnson is quick, but I felt I got the better of him. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I’m not scared of facing him. Of course he could get me out again in the future, and he’s uncomfortable for the batsman.
“But when you play each other so often, you either become a buddy with a bowler like Mitchell or you get on top of him. I feel I’m on top of him.” De Villiers scored 91 out of 206 when Johnson took seven for 68 at Centurion last year. De Villiers scored 43 of the runs Johnson conceded off 50 balls faced.
Ali recalled the Adelaide Test in November 2012, when South Africa went into the last day on 77 for four, still needing 353 to win the match. A win was out of the question, but could South Africa somehow bat all day for a draw?
De Villiers batted more than four hours for 33 runs, which he scored off 220 balls. He put on 89 priceless runs with Faf du Plessis, who batted all day and made 110 not out off 376 balls. Kallis took over when De Villiers was out, and he and Du Plessis used up another two-and-a-half hours together.
South Africa finished on 248 for eight: only in Test cricket could a draw have been so exciting. How did they survive?
“I really enjoyed that Test match for exactly that reason,” says De Villiers, “because I was able to show I’m not just a one-dimensional player who has to score at a run a ball. We were catching a lot of abuse on the field and then in the media, about how we were playing the game, how ‘negative’ we were. I just knew we had to guts it out – and that the momentum in a match can turn around very quickly. And it was great to bat so long with Faf – I’ve known him for a very long time. We were in the same class at school, both boarders – side by side all the way.”
In the next Test at Perth, South Africa led by 62 runs on the first innings – and then smashed the Australian bowling in the second innings to set up a massive 309-run victory.
De Villiers made 169 in 184 balls – the complete opposite of his painstaking 33 at Adelaide. “Those two Tests were two of the most enjoyable matches I’ve played in – going through all that pain and saving the game at Adelaide, and then completely dominating the Aussies at Perth. There was a lot of pleasure in that.
“We were scoring at more than seven runs an over at one stage. We showed the whole world that we are an adaptable team, and that we could do anything. It’s probably our biggest strength – how we can turn things around from any situation.
“It’s never been about myself. I don’t like talking about statistics. They’re a nice reference point and I’ll probably look back to my stats one day. But while I’m playing, it’s been a pet hate of mine, people talking about stats. I just think that is missing the plot. There’s nothing more rewarding than being a member of a winning team, and having a big influence on your mates around you … seeing youngsters grow into great cricket players, and knowing that you’ve had an influence on them. It would be nice to bring back a World Cup – but there’s a bigger picture than just the World Cup.”
Ali suggested that the 20-over game should be banned at school level, because it encourages players to hit out recklessly before they have learned to build an innings. “Whether we like it or not, it’s become part of cricket now. Financially it’s good for players and the organisers. There’s way too much T20, but there is a place for it. They’ve just got to find the balance, they’re going too hard at the market at the moment.
“I make it look like I’m enjoying T20-, but I’m really uncomfortable, feeling forced to bat hard from the very first over. More often than not, you’re uncomfortable in that situation and you have to take risks. I believe the most successful players in T20 are still the conventional players – guys who set it up and take 10 or 12 balls to settle in, trying to make a run a ball. Whatever the format, you need to keep it simple, keeping your head still, trying to play the ball late.”
In mid-2015, De Villiers is first in the ODI world rankings and third in the Test rankings. He is just 31 years old, with several years of batting ahead of him, and perhaps the best is yet to come.
Pass
Already he has passed 150 nine times in Tests, including two double-centuries. Against the West Indies in 2014-2015 in South Africa, he scored 559 runs in six innings in ODIs and Tests – an average of 93.16 across both forms of the game.
In ODIs, he has a strike rate of 99.12, the best bar one of any batsman in history who has scored more than 2000 runs and has an average higher than 35.
His only rival among the major batsmen is Virender Sehwag (strike rate 104.33), but Sehwag averages 35.03 to De Villiers’ 53.65. Only seven batsmen have achieved an ODI average above 50, and on that list De Villiers is second to Hashim Amla (55.26). In fact, they are the only two batsmen who have averaged more than 50 in both ODIs and Tests.
“The shots I play are not practised deliberately in the nets… but I am very structured in the way I practise. I do practise hard. I’ve got my little drills I go through. But those shots I play in the match, I work out on the day. I try to get a feel for what the opposing captain is trying to do, and play my shots accordingly to get round him.
“That’s the important thing for any player to find out – what it is that sets you apart, makes you better than the rest. If you don’t find that out, you are never going to be better than the rest.”
About the authors
* Bacher was educated at King Edward VII School (captaining the 1st XI and Transvaal Nuffield XI) and Wits University, where he studied medicine. He captained Transvaal aged 21 and played 12 Tests between 1965 and 1970, when he captained South Africa to a 4-0 Test whitewash of Australia. He went on to a distinguished career in cricket administration, culminating in the hosting of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. He is chairman of the Aids charity Right to Care.
* Williams was educated at King Edward VII School (he played rugby for the 1st XV and Transvaal Schools) and Wits University, majoring in history, political science and English. He was deputy editor of the Financial Mail, and has worked extensively in radio and television