A batsman of breathtaking chutzpah and enterprise, as well as the skills and the temperament required to back up his creative intent. A fielder able to leap tall buildings and still come up with the catch. A wicketkeeper who is perfectly at ease donning pads and gloves. A fine rugby player, golfer, and tennis player. All AB de Villiers needs to show off his abundant gifts is a ball. Just about any ball.

Cricket should be pleased to have him. Few drive the ball as sweetly and to the boundary as regularly, and - in South Africa, at any rate - even fewer possess the silkily snappy footwork required to put spinners in their place. de Villiers is also among the fastest and the most instinctively sensible runners between the wickets. Marry all that with an approach to life that veers between laconic and laid back, and it isn't difficult to fathom why he has been afforded senior player status in the South African team years ahead of his time.

de Villiers' potential was recognised years before he made the leap to senior international level as an opening batsman against England at Port Elizabeth in 2004-05. He has batted everywhere from number one to number eight - with the important exception of number three - and has performed well in most of these positions.

After a brief slump in form in 2006 and 2007, de Villiers returned to the straight and narrow early in 2008 with a blistering 103 not out off 109 balls in Durban against West Indies. Later that year came one of de Villiers' career highlights, an undefeated 217 at Ahmedabad. It was the first double-century by a South African against India.

South Africans do not take easily to the precociously talented, but it helps if they do not come across all precocious. Such is the case with de Villiers, whose lazy smile under an every-which-way thatch of blond hair has helped convince the nation that he's worth feeding despite all that talent. The nation is not wrong.

de Villiers adjusts to the requirements of cricket's various formats as effortlessly as someone of his ample abilities should do. So much so that he has yet to fall victim to the curse of selection disputes, a curse that has struck even as accomplished a player as Jacques Kallis. Instead, as a career that should be in its adolescence by the mere measure of time and matches arches ever upward, the only question to be asked about de Villiers is how to deploy him to maximum effect.
Telford Vice

• December 17, 2004
  An ordinary start
  • Makes his Test debut at the age of 20 against England in the first Test in Port Elizabeth. Opens the innings and manages 28 and 14, as South Africa lose by seven wickets.
    
• December 26, 2004
  Keeping the faith
  • Dons the wicketkeeping gloves in only his second Test, and delivers in the second innings with bat and gloves - he scores 52, and takes four catches, making it five for the match.
    
• January 25, 2005
  A hundred soon after
  • Three Tests later, he posts his maiden century. He scores 109 off 169 balls in the second innings, including 11 fours and a six, as the match in Centurion peters out to a draw.
    
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• February 2, 2005
  A tie on debut
  • Makes his one-day international debut during England's tour of South Africa. Manages just 20 opening the batting in Bloemfontein, as South Africa managed their fifth tie in one-day cricket.
    
• April 10, 2007
  Big stage, big score
  • After waiting more than two years for his first ODI century, he finally reaches the mark in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. Following three ducks in the tournament, he limps and grimaces to a quickfire 146 at the top of the order against the hosts. Twelve fours and five sixes help lift South Africa to 356, and they finally win by 67 runs.
    
• May 3, 2005
  Well bowled AB
  • The fourth Test against West Indies is only the second time he bowls in his Test career. He picks up his first wickets too, taking 2 for 49 - Daren Powell and Tino Best are his victims - in West Indies' first-innings onslaught in Antigua.
    
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• March 14, 2008
  Five behind the stumps
  • Another feather in his wicketkeeping cap as he takes five catches in an ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka.
    
• April 4, 2008
  On the double
  • Scores his maiden Test double-hundred, against India in Ahmedabad. He also becomes the first South African to hit a double hundred against India. His 217 off 333 balls, laced with 17 fours and two sixes, helps South Africa win by an innings and 90 runs in three days.
    
• January 18-April 17, 2009
  On top against Australia
  • Over a three-month period de Villiers plays nine ODIs against Australia and scores four half-centuries at an average of more than 61 and a strike rate of 91.
    
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• April 23, 2009
  IPL's second centurion
  • Smashes the second IPL century, clubbing five fours and six sixes en route to a 54-ball 105 for Delhi Daredevils against Chennai Super Kings in Durban.
    
• November 27, 2009
  Making England suffer
  • His first 50-plus ODI score against England is a substantial one, as he goes on to an 85-ball 121 to power South Africa to 354 and a huge win in Cape Town.
    
• February 24-27, 2010
  Successive unbeaten ODI tons
  • No-one remembers his unbeaten 114 in a match made famous by Sachin Tendulkar's 200, but in the next game he smashes 102 off a mere 59 balls to give South Africa a consolation win in a series they've already lost.
    
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