C365 Player of the Week: AB de Villiers

Cricket365
December 4, 2012

South Africa wicketkeeper-batsman AB de Villiers is almost too nice for his own good. He chats to pundits and reporters whenever he's asked, always with that lopsided smile on his blonde-fluffed face, and never loses his temper or shows irritation.

Lately, he has been fielding tons of queries about his batting form since taking up the gloves, and in Perth he pointedly, but with a grin, said on camera that it was the media doubting him, not his team or himself.

And then he went out and scored a flashy, sexy 169 in the third Test, helping his country win the match and retain the number one Test ranking, giving an unsubtle 'Up yours!' to the experts who said he had too much pressure to deal with.

And so, for finally showing he can deal with being a dual-specialist, our Player of the Week goes to 'AB, My Baby', who will probably blush and deflect the praise towards his team or his God when he finds out about this veritable honour.

De Villiers did not have a stellar series with the bat, he will be first to admit, and the 169 off 184 balls was by far his highlight Down Under. But it was a very bright highlight, featuring three sixes and 21 boundaries on a wicket that had seen 22 wickets fall in the first two days alone.

He and Hashim Alma (swoon!) took a chapter, never mind a page, from Michael Clarke's book and tormented the Aussies for 36 overs, putting on 149 together. He was then joined by his old schoolmate, Faf du Plessis, and they added another 102 runs, handing the Proteas an impossible lead.

As for his 'keeping, it improved in leaps and bounds compared to the England series, where he was rusty and dealing with a back injury. He gained confidence behind the stumps in Australia, aided by his ever-present skipper Graeme Smith at first slip, and in Perth he took four catches and affected a nifty stumping to get rid of Clarke.

Honourable mention must go to Mitchell Starc. The fast bowler only played in Perth, getting a crack thanks to Peter Siddle's exhaustion, and he repaid the faith by taking six wickets in the second innings and eight in the match. He also scored 68 not out in Australia's losing cause, which was his highest first-class score.

<b>Lindsay du Plessis</b>