AB de Villiers - An insight into why he is a true legend of modern sport

“I was eight years old when I saw Jonty’s world famous run out against Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup. It really made an impression on me. I remember thinking: this is a cool game! I started dreaming of following in Jonty’s footsteps.”

AB De Villiers: A true all-rounder!

Today he is considered the best fielder in the South African side since Jonty. AB de Villiers did not become a champion overnight. His is a very inspiring story. He is one of the most able batsmen in world cricket (ranked 1 in Test cricket and 5 in ODI cricket), and he can boast of probably the fastest reflexes on the field among all cricketers of the present time.

But he is as humble a person as you will ever find. Few people know that was an extremely talented sportsperson when he was young, in numerous sports other than cricket as well. He has the image of performing better under pressure, which can be traced back to the childhood atmosphere that he had that rendered him thus.

Early Days

Born in Pretoria, he was exposed to a competitive environment of sport right from the age he started playing. This was provided by the people he played with- his two older brothers Jan and Wessels, and by Martin van Jaarsveld, a friend who later represented South Africa internationally as well.

These people were in no mood to give him any freebies. Whatever he achieved at that age in any sport, be it in cricket, rugby or tennis, it had to be got through cut-throat competition. This was the foundation for the de Villiers of today who plays so well under pressure.

He recalls, “I had to carry the water and, after a long day, they would finally give me my chance. I was a little boy and they were all in matric. They would try to intimidate me. The bat was actually too heavy for me, and I would rest it on the dustbin while they were walking back to their mark,” he says. “They battled to get me out and they would get so frustrated that they’d bowl a couple of beamers at me to see what I would do. Saturday games at our house in Bela Bela were very competitive. My brothers were merciless. They were monsters. There were always a lot of tears—usually mine.”

Sport ran in his family. Both his father and mother played, so did his brothers. So it was only natural that he did something in sports too. He recalls having played something almost every day of his life, right from his childhood days.

First Love

It wasn’t cricket. That’s right. It was tennis that he first took an immense liking to before he was attracted to team sports like cricket and rugby to leave tennis behind.

He participated in numerous U-9 tournaments and even defeated Izak ven der Merwe in his first ever competitive game, a player who would go on to represent South Africa in tennis later. AB played tennis till the age of 13 before he gave it up for want of time and his better liking for other sports.

High School

This was a defining moment in his life when he got into the famous Afrikaanse Hoer Seunskool, a premier sporting institution in South Africa, at the age of 13. He didn’t have a favourite sport yet, and decided that he might consider entering professional cricket from the moment he was selected into the South African Colt team when he was 16.

Jacques Rudolph and Faf du Plessis were in the same school as well, which boasts of having produced some great sportspersons over the years. Here in this school he found an ideal environment for nurturing his talents, and the discipline enforced by his coaches and mentors went a long way in shaping his personality as a player. He was even coached by former SA test wicket-keeper Denis Lindsay who taught him all professional about wicket-keeping.

He was part of the U-14 cricket team at school. He tried his hand at golf and got a scratch handicap in it, too. He participated in rugby as well, which was the most followed sport at his school. He had a natural talent for anything that was a sport. He once had a flair for hockey, and made it to the U-16 side of the school that did really well during the time he was a member.

He returned to play rugby when he stopped with hockey, and it took him very less time and some good luck to feature in the top rugby team of his school, the 1st XV of the Affies. He performed extraordinarily well and was selected for the Blue Balls U-18 side, which had some big names that would later represent South African rugby.

Other than that, he created swimming records in school and pursued badminton and played at the U-19 level also. Basically any sport that he played, he excelled. He recalls that he, along with his brothers, used to run up and down a hill near his house when there was nothing else to play. These early activities were what made him so naturally good for any sport that he attempted to play in school.

Professional Cricket

It was just a matter of choosing one sport out of the lot. He did focus more of his attention to cricket after he left school. Destiny was probably at work here as well, because he was spotted by the Titan’s coach Dave Nosworthy while he was playing for the SA U-19s, who straightaway invited him to play for the Titans, seeing his talents.

He got his first opportunity to play really soon, when Canada toured South Africa and he was part of the side, although a controversial selection seeing that he was only 19 at that time. But he scored a century playing in the game, as if by habit of grabbing an opportunity when the right one presented itself, which was a constant highlight of his early life.

Following this, he signed a contract with the Titans at the insistence of Nosworthy who told him to move away from University cricket and consider cricket as a career. He made four consecutive fifties in his first four provincial innings. He even scored some big hundreds as part of the Carrickfergus Cricket club of Ireland, after which he was started being talked about everywhere and soon got a call from the South Africa A team.

Coincidentally, South Africa was not doing so well at that time and the selectors were looking to bring in fresh talent to the side. Sure enough, de Villiers was spotted and he made his Test debut in December 2004 against England at Port Elizabeth, and his ODI debut 2 months later against the same opposition.

He is now an integral part of the South African side in all formats. He has kept wickets since Boucher retired as well. To sum it up, de Villiers is a magic spell that happened to South African cricket. He says, “Success is 99% self-belief. You have to be confident in your abilities. And hard work comes naturally if you have a passion for something.”

Life outside cricket

He is married to Danielle Swart, his girlfriend for 6 years, who he met for the first time on her father’s farm outside Bela Bela in Limpopo. She accompanied him to watch him as he took part in the latest edition of the IPL, in which he plays for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

When asked about whether his love for the game would make him play the game for so long as he turns 40, he had this to say, “No. Not to 40. There is no chance. I think there is more to life than just playing cricket for 25 years. I will definitely find the right time to retire. When I start my family I am definitely going to retire. I am not going to wait till I am 40.”

He has a certain interest in music too. Along with his friend Ampie du Preez, he even released a song titled ‘Show them who you are’, which became really popular and was sung as an anthem when South Africa triumphed against Australia in 2009.

He carries around his guitar on his cricket tours and is still involved in song-writing and singing, and together with his friend has produced many other songs after his initial success.

Apart from this, he is involved in social work with the Make a Difference Foundation that helps underprivileged children, and is also a partner in his brother’s fast-food business. His is certainly a dynamic personality who has achieved so much over the years and is an inspiration for all others who play the sport along with him and his countrymen.

He can truly be called a Jack of All Trades.