AB de Villiers No. 1 Batsmen in Test Cricket

Full name Abraham Benjamin de Villiers

Born February 17, 1984, Pretoria

Current age 29 years 312 days

Major teams South Africa, Roal Challengers Banglore

Playing role Wicketkeeper batsman

Batting style Right-hand bat

Bowling style Right-arm medium

Fielding position Wicketkeeper

A batsman of breathtaking chutzpah and enterprise, as well as the skills and the temperament required to back up his creative intent. A fielder able to leap tall buildings and still come up with the catch. A wicketkeeper who is perfectly at ease donning pads and gloves. A fine rugby player, golfer, and tennis player. All AB de Villiers needs to show off his abundant gifts is a ball. Just about any ball.

Cricket should be pleased to have him. Few drive the ball as sweetly and to the boundary as regularly, and - in South Africa, at any rate - even fewer possess the silkily snappy footwork required to put spinners in their place. de Villiers is also among the fastest and the most instinctively sensible runners between the wickets. Marry all that with an approach to life that veers between laconic and laid back, and it isn't difficult to fathom why he has been afforded senior player status in the South African team years ahead of his time.

de Villiers' potential was recognised years before he made the leap to senior international level as an opening batsman against England at Port Elizabeth in 2004-05. He has batted everywhere from number one to number eight - with the important exception of number three - and has performed well in most of these positions.

South Africans do not take easily to the precociously talented, but it helps if they do not come across all precocious. Such is the case with de Villiers, whose lazy smile under an every-which-way thatch of blond hair has helped convince the nation that he's worth feeding despite all that talent. The nation is not wrong.

After a brief slump in form in 2006 and 2007, de Villiers returned to the straight and narrow early in 2008 with a blistering 103 not out off 109 balls in Durban against West Indies. Later that year came one of de Villiers' career highlights, an undefeated 217 at Ahmedabad. It was the first double-century by a South African against India.

Batting and fielding averages

	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	4s	6s	Ct	St
Tests	88	147	16	6753	278*	51.54	12338	54.73	18	33	773	47	154	3
ODIs	159	153	25	6331	146	49.46	6746	93.84	16	36	572	109	134	3
T20Is	51	48	8	867	79*	21.67	715	121.25	0	4	67	26	47	6
First-class	114	192	21	8640	278*	50.52	15255	56.63	21	47			205	4
List A	191	184	28	7668	146	49.15			19	45			160	3
Twenty20	144	132	28	3060	105*	29.42	2302	132.92	1	17	241	108	103	15

Bowling averages

	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4w	5w	10
Tests	88	5	204	104	2	2/49	2/49	52.00	3.05	102.0	0	0	0
ODIs	159	1	12	22	0	-	-	-	11.00	-	0	0	0
T20Is	51	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
First-class	114		234	138	2	2/49		69.00	3.53	117.0	0	0	0
List A	191		12	22	0	-	-	-	11.00	-	0	0	0
Twenty20	144	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-