Sometimes when I’ve had enough caffeine to sink a battleship I feel indestructible.
AB De Villiers doesn’t need caffeine.
He’s high on life, religion and cricket. But he sure does appear indestructible.
Someone was saying the other day there isn’t a sport he hasn’t mastered. Not just a golfer like Punter Ponting – he was a tennis champ and a good rugby player.
Makes you sick doesn’t it?
When AB is behind the stumps and when he is batting he looks like every sinew in his body is committed to the effort. Davey Warner reminds me of that. They twitch with excitement like a cougar.
But De Villiers outpoints all other batsmen, and outpoints all bowlers, because he is a student of the game.
This is something that Steve Smith, Alex Doolan, Warner, Shaun Marsh, Jordan Silk, Joe Burns, Travis Head, Sean Abbott, Luke Pomersbach, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Finch, Sam Whiteman, Shane Watson and a host of Australian batsmen would do well to emulate if they were fair dinkum.
We have seen how he dealt with every Australian bowler. He is watertight in defence, uses his feet to attack and defend, uses the batting crease beautifully, picks up length instinctively and reacts accordingly.
It is almost like he has a catalogue of shots which meet every ball bowled.
Australian batsmen such as Punter, Mike Clarke, Watson, Mike Hussey, Steve and Mark Waugh, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist and others of this era never quite developed a watertight defence and the ability to read every ball like AB and Sachin Tendulkar.
This was mostly because on turning tracks and when the ball reversed or swung alarmingly, they could not cope.
Pads got in front of bats quite a lot!
Australian batsmen are self made on Australian bouncy wickets, and proud of it. They don’t like being tinkered with. In fact, they can be downright cantankerous about it.
And the guys I named above came through an era where if their defence let them down, there was a pack of batsmen to score runs, and a pack of great bowlers to take wickets in clumps.
Matt Hayden looked almost like he had the batting game beaten towards the end of his career. He could smash bowlers off a good length, keep the jaffa out…and mishit balls for six.
Sachin was perfection. Bradman was a run scoring machine in an era where pinpoint fast bowling, over after over , was not in evidence.
De Villiers has taken up where Sachin left off, and added athleticism to his defence and offence.
If he had batsmen to stay with him and relieve the pressure, and if he didn’t keep, he would score double and triple hundreds regularly. He is that good. Not to say that pressure cannot eventually tell on De Villiers because he has such a huge load in each game.
The game today is a supreme test. People may not rate Mitch Johnson, Pete Siddle, Ryan Harris, Nathan Lyon and Shane Watson as the greatest ever attack, but on the roads dished up in Test Cricket since 2008, they are as accurate and dangerous as any great attacks in history.
Johnson as we have seen can fire you out, the others think you out and noodle you out.
A great leg spinner is what Australia needs now to complement young quicks such as Pattinson, Cummins, Starc, Behrendorff, Coulter-Nile, Rainbird and co.
Steyne, Morkel, Phillander and Abbott/Parnell are at least their equal. Hitting spots, either on the wicket or on the batter’s body is an art form. Reverse is an artform. Being tough bred South Africans is a source of great pride.
And when those guys know they have people such as De Villiers, Duminy, Elgar, Amla, Smith and others to score a bunch of runs, they relax and plot the downfall of any opposition batting line-up.
England have challenged them, India have challenged them, Pakistan gave them a fright…and Australia beat them.
But the result of the final Test will either confirm their greatness, or show a chink in their armour.
At the end of the day though, hats off to AB De Villiers. He is the next Sachin and Bradman, rolled into one.
Shaun
Guest
The Aussie fielders crude & crass language displayed yesterday when Faf picked up the ball was embarrassing to say the least. Gosh can't believe that any of their mothers would have been proud of their sons hearing that type of behaviour
Armchair Expert
Guest
Bradman certainly ruffled a few feathers during his time as administrator but the issues he had with his team mates are normally traced back to the divisive Catholic vs Protestant and vice versa thing which, according to my grandmother, was rampant in those days.
bigbaz
Roar Guru
Hope he's catholic, he should be sainted.
DUNCAN
Guest
I heard also that he was a brilliant hocky player and could have had a pro career as a golfer. Not to mention his academic achievements which are at an equally high level. Cricket in Australia along with the West Indies are the two countries where cricket is truly a working class game. In all other countries the game tends to have an elitist, wealthy, upperclass edge to it. Which is why the Aussies in particular appear so coarse and crude at times. I would say most if not all of that South African side would be privately educated and would have other careers to go to after cricket
casper
Guest
Cricket is a game that encourages selfishness in the individual, even when it's a team sport. Some of the greats of the past haven't necessarily haven't been people you'd want dating your sister. From all reports, Bradman was disliked by a great many of his contemporaries, even though admired for his ability. Maybe ponting took the aussie view that ABDV was being sarcastic, we have a different sense of humour. Have to agree that warner will need to keep scoring tons because he is definitely a bit of a yobbo & may never change. Let's wait until ABDV finishes his career to determine his status, SA don't seem to play the top test nations often enough for teams to work him out, unlike the ashes type series where a team can pinpoint a frailty & go for the jugular, just ask Alistair Cook.
Clark
Guest
I agree completely with that. It is very much the same with the whole South African team, seem like a bunch of decent guys you could have a beer with without being worried about them punching you like some of the bogans of the Australian team, well one in particular
Old Alo
Guest
Not only is AB a truly great batter he is a really decent human being. He contradicts the Australian theory that you have to be a complete knobhead to play Test cricket. His story about complementing Ponting on a brilliant ton and Ponting just dismissing him contemptuously tells us more about Ponting and the Australian cricketing culture than it does about ABDV. More power to him.
TheTruth
Guest
Wessels to replace Gibbs
StrYdeRZA
Guest
Nice idea johno! Would pay good money to see that series... Gibbs was too hit and miss for me to be completely comfortable with him opening, but then I can't think of anyone better at the moment. Kallis would as you say be an influential difference, but as a South African, it was Warne more than anyone else who had us worried, sure Kallis, ADB and Amla in one batting line up might have been able to put him in his place, we will never know, but on the performances we do know, Warne would have wrapped it up for the Aussies!
Harry
Guest
I'd say ABDV has caught Art Full up to no good with a goat and has the photos. ;)
Johnno
Guest
AB might be the best batter since Bradman, better than Lara,Tendulkar, the great Viv Richards, Border, Steve Waugh. AB reminds me, of Greg Chappell so fluent. A great batter. So many potential great players in both sides now and in the past 10-20 years of both sides. How is this for a line up. Best Aust V SA 1992-2014. Hows this for a match. Aust Hayden Warner Ponting Clarke Mike Hussey Steve Waugh Adam Gilchrist WK Warne Mitch Johnson Mcdermott Mcgrath 12th man Mark Waugh South Africa: Graeme Smith Herschelle Gibbs Gary Kirsten Amla Kallis all-rounder AB Devilliers Mark Boucher WK Shaun Pollock good batter Steyn Morkel Donald 12th Man Philander Great game love to see a test series between these 2. South Africa just, Kallis the difference. No spinner though for SA, but 5 top paceman they'll be fine, windies had 4 quicks and were fine. Alan Border would of made my team, as would kepler wessels make the South African team, but they were past it in the 1990's.