The rise of A B De Villiers

    Abraham Benjamin de Villiers (born 17 February 1984, Pretoria, Transvaal Province, South Africa) more commonly known by his initials AB is a South African cricketer and captain of the South African One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 teams, having succeeded Graeme Smith in both roles after the 2011 Cricket World Cup. He is also part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League.  
    
     De Villiers is a right-handed batsman, who, in a very short space of time, has accumulated many runs in Tests including centuries against England, India, the West Indies and Australia. He has been dismissed in the 90s on five occasions in Tests. He still holds the record for most Test innings without registering a duck (78),^[2] before being dismissed for nought against Bangladesh in November 2008. He also holds the record for the highest individual score by a South African batsman in an innings, with 278*. He is an occasional wicketkeeper for the South African cricket team, and is commonly regarded as one of the best fielders currently in international cricket. AB de Villiers blasted the seventh fastest century in ODI cricket, in 58 balls, when he slammed an unbeaten 102 off just 59 balls against India in Ahmedabad in February 2010. He reached the top of the Test Batting rankings in March 2012.


   De Villiers (who played for Carrickfergus Cricket Club in Northern Ireland as a youngster) became the second youngest and second fastest South African to reach 1000 test runs after Graeme Pollock and in his test career so far De Villiers has batted, bowled and kept wicket as well.


   He made his test debut as a 20 year old on 16 December 2004 against England at Port Elizabeth. He made an impression opening the batting, but was dropped down the order for the second test and also handed the wicket-keeping gloves.

     De Villiers has a reputation as an outstanding fielder, typified by a diving run-out of Simon Katich of Australia in 2006, when he dived to stop the ball, and while still lying on his stomach facing away from the stumps, he tossed the ball backwards over his shoulder and effected a direct hit. This has also led people to make further comparisons of him to Jonty Rhodes as he was also one of the finest fielders of his generation.

In 2009 He was nominated for ICC Cricketer of the year and ICC Test Player of the year.

     On June 6, 2011, New SA coach Gary Kirsten announced that AB de Villiers will be South Africa's new limited-overs captain

AB de Villiers is a vastly improved batsman.At 25, he has played 52 tests already. In the beginning he would keep wickets, open the batting and play those quick little cameos, but the opposition never really worried about him. But in the last year or so he has became quite a dangerous batsman.

A B de Villiers at ICC awards ceremony

In the fourth season of Indian Premier League, he was contracted by Royal Challengers Bangalore for US$1.1 million. He played for the Delhi Daredevils in the previous seasons. 

    In the last 2 years he averages 58 and in the last year his average is nearly 65.  In the last year he has also scored 5 of his 9 career centuries, 3 of which have come in the 6 tests against Australia and 1 against India, these are the top two teams in the world with quality bowling attacks. One of his hundreds came when South Africa chased that mammoth 400 plus score in the fourth innings in Australia. The man is on the rise, and he can only get better from now on. He is only 25 and has a long career in front of him.

Batting Performance Analysis
Match Type	Matches	Innings	N.O.	Runs	HS	Avg	S/R	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct	St
ODI	127	127	21	4,998	146	47.15	93.19	13	28	462	88	99	3
Tests	74	133	14	5,457	278	45.86	54.96	13	29	626	42	99	1
Twenty20	36	36	7	680	79	23.45	119.93		4	50	21	35