Is South African cricketer AB de Villiers one of the most naturally gifted sportsmen around?
Taking a look at the statistics…. he has a Test batting average of 51.01, with a high score of 278 not out. Added to that, he has snapped up 80 catches as a wicketkeeper, along with 3 stumpings. It might surprise you to find out that he also has a best bowling analysis of 2/49. Not bad for ‘keeper…
In One Day Internationals he boasts a batting average of 51.21, with a high score of 146. He has recently been relieved of the wicket keeping duties in the South African ODI squad by Quinton de Kok, but until then he had taken 85 catches with his stumping count also standing at 3. The boredom of being an outfielder obviously got to him in the recent ODI series between South Africa and New Zealand as he brought himself on to bowl his military medium pace and returned figures of 2/28.
At the moment he is rated by the ICC as the top batsman in ODI cricket and 2nd in Test cricket. He recently broke the world record for the fastest batsman to get to 7000 ODI runs. Another world record which he has to his name is the most Test innings without scoring a duck, being 78.
So AB de Villiers is obviously a very talented cricketer. We haven’t even considered his feats in International T20 cricket as well as the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, but does that make him one of the most gifted sportsman around? Probably not, but consider the following…
Abraham Benjamin (AB) de Villiers has this incredible ability to succeed in any sport he chooses. He was once a scratch golfer, but now plays off a 2 handicap as cricket has taken up more of his time. As a 13-year old, he was in the South African Junior tennis team and turned down the opportunity to attend the Nick Bollettieri Academy in Florida as he did not want to leave the family home. He was also the South African under-19 badminton champion.
As a rugby player, he played flyhalf for the Blue Bulls under-18 team and turned down a contract to pursue a rugby career with them as he had decided on cricket. To prove that his talents were not restricted to ball sports, he was also a fantastic swimmer and remains the holder of six South African Schools swimming records.
As a scholar, AB once received a medal from the then President Nelson Mandela for a project he submitted for a National Science Competition.
To add some fun to his resume… AB has also turned to music and released a song called “Show them who you are“.
When I grow up… I want to be AB de Villiers!
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