Abraham Benjamin “AB” de Villiers is our June 2015 Local Icon.
Abraham Benjamin “AB” de Villiers (born 17 February 1984) is a South African cricketer, who captains the South African One Day International (ODI) team, having succeeded Graeme Smith after the 2011 Cricket World Cup.
Widely regarded as the best batsman in the world and one of the greatest of all time,De Villiers dominated the top of the ICC Test batting rankings in 2014, along with Kumar Sangakkara. As of January 2015, he is ranked second in the ICC Test and first in the ODI batting rankings.
The son of Dr Abraham B de Villiers, he attended Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Afrikaans High School for Boys, also known as Affies), a public school located in Pretoria. De Villiers is a right-handed batsman, who, in a very short space of time, has accumulated many runs in Tests including 16 centuries and 32 fifties. He still holds the record for most Test innings without registering a duck (78), before being dismissed for nought against Bangladesh in November 2008. He also holds the second-highest individual score by a South African batsman in an innings, with 278*. Until 2012, he was an occasional wicket-keeper for South Africa, although since the retirement of regular Test keeper Mark Boucher and under his own ODI captaincy he has started to regularly keep wicket for the national side in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, but then decided to give up wicketkeeping after the debut of Quinton de Kock, and started becoming a part-time bowler.
He holds the record for the fastest 50(16 balls), 100(31 balls) and 150(64 balls) in One Day Internationals. On 18 January 2015, AB de Villiers smashed the fastest century in ODI history, breaking New Zealand’s Corey Anderson’s record, reaching 100 off just 31 balls and going on to score 149 runs off just 44 balls against the West Indies.
AB de Villiers Records
- Fastest fifty in One day International in 16 balls vs West Indies at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 18 January 2015.
- Fastest hundred in One day International in 31 balls vs West Indies at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 18 January 2015.
- Fastest hundred and fifty in One day International in 64 balls vs West Indies at Sydney Cricket Ground, Australia on 27 February 2015.
- Never missed a test match since his debut (98*)
- Fastest player to reach 7000 runs in one day Internationals.
- He equalled the record of maximum sixes (16) in an innings in an ODI format along with Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle against the West Indies at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 18 January 2015.
- He is the holder of rather an unwanted record for most ducks (4) in a particular ODI series (2007 Cricket World Cup). He shares this record with Greg Chappell and Kyle McCallan (who also achieved this in the 2007 Cricket World Cup).
- He holds the record for the most sixes in Cricket World Cup (37 sixes) along with Chris Gayle.
- He is the leading run scorer for SOUTH AFRICA in Cricket World Cup.
