Rob Houwing

I suppose you could say the scenic journey began in the relatively sedate surrounds of Taunton - cider country - on June 29 last year, where the South Africans opened their English tour account with a three-day first-class fixture against Somerset.

AB de Villiers had a near-ideal bit of “middle”, to use common batting parlance, scoring an unbeaten 47 and then 48 in the tame yet useful enough draw.

But it was a significant little smoke signal of things to come… because a fire has burned in the right-handed stroke-player virtually ever since.

Yes, right up to June 16 and his red-hot 63 at a strike rate of 123 in the Proteas’ victory over India at the ICC World Twenty20.

I have charted every fully-fledged international fixture De Villiers has played in since that Taunton limb-loosener and up to the India T20 game: for the record, and as indicator of how stamina-sapping modern itineraries are, the period encompasses 12 Tests, 18 one-day internationals and nine Twenty20 internationals.

Over the course of those 39 matches for his country (he sat out just two fixtures injured, a T20 international in Brisbane and ODI in Melbourne), there is only really one significant period in which he could be said to have “dipped”.

That was the entire ODI series in England -- where weary South Africa were wretchedly off-colour generally and walloped 4-0 with one abandonment -- and a handful of subsequent, varied obligations against minnows Kenya and Bangladesh in our early summer, where De Villiers strangely didn’t cash on the opportunity to swell his averages.

But then normal service (read normal, rather ruthless service) kicked back in for the Pretoria-born star and he has gone several months since without encountering another personal speed-wobble – overwhelmingly against top-tier opposition, into the bargain.

It is confirmation of De Villiers having emphatically won his battle to reach cricketing “maturity”, to find his place in the world, after worrying periods of under-achievement even while an array of judges continued to noisily trumpet his formidable talent.

In Test terms, the period under discussion has been characterised mostly by combat against two of South Africa’s stiffest foes, England (away) and Australia both home and away.

And De Villiers has played a meaningful role in each, including the bogey-breaking series triumphs in England and then Down Under.

His 174 in the first innings at Leeds was instrumental in South Africa getting their noses ahead in the series in the second of four Tests, while he showed rearguard grit as well in the Proteas’ second knock at the Oval, scoring 97 as the tourists found the dead-rubber game a bridge slightly too far.

He was man-of-the-match in the famous Perth Test, which again put his side on a precious series front foot, where his 106 not out, added to 63 in the first knock, played an enormous role in the successful hunt-down of a 400-plus target.

De Villiers was then stand-out South African batsman in the disappointingly surrendered home follow-up series, scoring 104 not out in a meagre first-innings total of 220 at the Wanderers, and clubbing Bryce McGain and company to the tune of 163 in the fast-tempo third Test at Newlands.

In ODIs, he was no less productive over the course of last summer: in consistently good form in the 4-1 thrashing of the Aussies on their soil (including player-of-the-match at Adelaide) and then player-of-the-series in the 3-2 win in South Africa, failing only in the opener at Kingsmead (2) before embarking on a golden personal run of 36 not out, 80, 84 and 38.

In Sandton on June 30, the sixth annual SA Cricket Awards banquet will be held.

At last year’s event, a certain Dale Steyn majestically swept the boards, winning the main award, plus Castle Test Cricketer of the Year, SA Players’ Player of the Year and SuperSport Fans’ Cricketer of the Year – all the accolades for which he was nominated.

I would stop short of guaranteeing a sweep, in what has been a sparkling year for the national side all-round and certain other individuals from the ranks too, but have a healthy hunch about who’ll be getting up from his seat quite a lot this time …

*For those interested, here is every De Villiers international innings since early July last year, up to the ICC World Twenty20 match against India:

1st Test v England, Lord’s: 42 and DNB
2nd Test v England, Leeds: 174 and DNB
3rd Test v England, Birmingham: 5 and 27
4th Test v England, Oval: 39 and 97
1st ODI v England, Leeds: 24
2nd ODI v England, Nottingham: 5
3rd ODI v England, Oval: 12
4th ODI v England, Lord’s: 14
5th ODI v England, Cardiff: Abandoned, DNB
1st ODI v Kenya, Bloemfontein: 11
2nd ODI v Kenya, Kimberley: 28
Only T20I v Bangladesh, Johannesburg: 36
1st ODI v Bangladesh, Potchefstroom: 35
2nd ODI v Bangladesh, Benoni: 54*
1st Test v Bangladesh, Bloemfontein: 3 and DNB
2nd Test v Bangladesh, Centurion: 0 and DNB
1st Test v Australia, Perth: 63 and 106*
2nd Test v Australia, Melbourne: 7 and DNB
3rd Test v Australia, Sydney: 11 and 56
1st T20I v Australia, Melbourne: 0
2nd ODI v Australia, Hobart: 44
3rd ODI v Australia, Sydney: 5
4th ODI v Australia, Adelaide: 82*
5th ODI v Australia, Perth: 60
1st Test v Australia, Johannesburg: 104* and 3
2nd Test v Australia, Durban: 3 and 84
3rd Test v Australia, Cape Town: 163 and DNB
1st T20I v Australia, Johannesburg: 7
2nd T20I v Australia, Centurion: 0
1st ODI v Australia, Durban: 2
2nd ODI v Australia, Centurion: 36*
3rd ODI v Australia, Cape Town: 80
4th ODI v Australia, Port Elizabeth: 84
5th ODI v Australia, Johannesburg: 38
ICC World T20 v Scotland, Oval: 79*
ICC World T20 v New Zealand, Lord's: 15
ICC World T20 v England, Nottingham: 11
ICC World T20 v West Indies, Oval: 17
ICC World T20 v India, Nottingham: 63

Rob Houwing is Sport24's chief writer

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