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AB de Villiers made an entertaining 163
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There's nothing wrong with a bit of healthy rivalry if it means the
bar gets set higher and higher. South Africa had two men who wanted to
bat at No. 5 in this Test: Ashwell Prince and
AB de Villiers. de Villiers was given the nod, Prince was reluctantly forced into the unfamiliar role of opening. If it was a cunning plan by the South
African selectors to spark something special from their batsmen, it
worked.
Big hundreds to both players ensured a permanent smile on the face of
the convenor of selectors Mike Procter as he sat in the stands at
Newlands over the past couple of days. It also meant he breathed a
sigh of relief after Prince and de Villiers were involved in some
heated exchanges as their domestic teams clashed on the weekend, after
the batting order for this Test had been named.
It raised questions over whether the Newlands dressing room would be a
happy place during this match. Despite the lingering frustration from
Prince, who said after making 150 that he would have preferred to bat
in his usual No. 5 spot, the team environment could be nothing but
joyous after they made 651.
de Villiers' contribution of 163 continued his brilliant series, which
had been the intention when the coach Mickey Arthur declined to push
him up to open. He often went in first during the early part of his
career but he has averaged 36.14 as a Test opener, compared to 49.84
when he hasn't opened.
"Not at all, no," de Villiers said when asked if the team had offered
him the opening role again for this match. "Mickey said that I'm going
to stick in the middle order, that's where I've been scoring my runs
and I deserve to stay in the same spot, I don't have to change.
"Unfortunately for Ashwell he had to, the only spot left was
the opening spot, but it paid off for him. I'm very, very happy for
him. But that's how the team works. When you go out, you come [back]
in wherever is best for the team. The team comes first."
It was probably for the best that neither Prince nor de Villiers
significantly outperformed the other. Not that de Villiers really had
anything to prove. He has been one of South Africa's strongest
performers during the six Tests against Australia and he has scored
600 runs at 75.00 during the home and away series. He saved his best,
and most entertaining, for what will almost certainly be his last
innings of the contests.
For a brief moment it looked like de Villiers might achieve something
that has eluded batsmen in Test cricket for 132 years. When de
Villiers slammed the first four balls of an Andrew McDonald over for
six, there was every possibility he might become the first man in Test
history to hit six sixes in an over. By the middle of the over, the
goal was on his mind.
"When I hit three [consecutive sixes], Albie [Morkel] came halfway
down and said 'listen, you've got to make a decision here, if you're
going to go for six in a row'. So I said 'geez, we're playing Test
cricket here Albs'. But then the fourth one went over and [I thought]
let's give it a go, why not. He bowled a good yorker for the fifth one
so it obviously wasn't meant to be."
Prior to de Villiers, only Kapil Dev and Shahid Afridi had struck four
consecutive sixes in a Test innings. The seven sixes that de Villiers
finished with was a South African Test record and the aggressive
streak has always been a feature of de Villiers' game.
But after play, he insisted his batting style had become less flashy
over the past two years. It is true that de Villiers now has the
ability to grind out an innings. It's a byproduct of maturity; de
Villiers is still only 25 but is playing his 52nd Test - the same
number that Don Bradman played in his 20-year career.
In the early days, he was asked to open and sometimes to keep wickets
but he has benefited from a clearly defined role in the past couple of
seasons. de Villiers doesn't want his job to change - other than an
eventual promotion to No. 4 - but he concedes that when Mark Boucher
eventually hangs up his gloves there may be pressure for him to take
over behind the stumps.
"Ideally I'd like to bat at four and not keep," he said. "But if the
team wants me to take the gloves in a few years' time ... we'll have a
nice chat when that happens. I can't be the wicketkeeper if I really
want to be a top world-class player, but we'll see what happens in two
or three years' time."
For now, he's happy to be the No. 5. As the coach said, de Villiers
doesn't have to change.
Brydon Coverdale is a staff writer at Cricinfo