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Cape Town – Proteas superstar AB de Villiers has passed the last major landmark en route to the golden figure of 10 000 one-day international runs.
The scorching stroke-player, 33, sacrificed himself unselfishly for a 15-ball score of 20 in the slog phase of the South African innings during the third ODI against Bangladesh at East London on Sunday.
But in doing so, he also went past the personal 9 500-run mark, getting to 9 515 before his exit in the 46th over.
So he is effectively in the final furlong now toward 10 000 runs, a club with just 11 elite members at present.
Top of the pile is retired Indian cult figure Sachin Tendulkar, who amassed all of 18,426 runs in a glittering career spanning 452 innings and some 23 years in the format.
Tendulkar is also the fastest to the 10 000-mark, having got there in 259 knocks - but it is going to take some highly unexpected development for De Villiers not to eclipse that figure.
Having had 215 innings himself thus far, the former Proteas captain has all of 43 further turns at the crease in hand to ensure he reaches 10 000 at a new world-record low tally of knocks.
That means he must average 11.27 in that time to reach the figure; an absolute formality for someone who sports a stellar 54.06.
That average is already well superior to anyone presently in the “10 000 or more” club; the best of those 11 players is Tendulkar (44.83).
There is one South African already installed in the 10 000-run group, Jacques Kallis, who finished his legendary overall career with 11 579 runs at 44.36 from 314 ODI innings; he is the fourth swiftest of all time to five figures and seventh for most runs in the arena.
In descending order, the 11 batsmen to have passed 10 000 runs already are Tendulkar (India), Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka), Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Kallis (South Africa), Sourav Ganguly (India), Rahul Dravid (India), Brian Lara (West Indies) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Sri Lanka).
De Villiers can draw himself appreciably closer to becoming the 12th member of the exclusive group when the Proteas are next in action in the 50-overs landscape, a six-match series during India’s SA tour in peak summer.
Only two innings back, he posted his personal best in ODIs by bludgeoning 176 in the second ODI (Paarl) against the hapless Bangladeshis, who now only have the two-match Twenty20 series to try to salvage some honour from a nightmarish visit thus far.
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
