AB de Villiers brought sheer joy to SA and the cricket world. His boyish enthusiasm never dimmed as he remained true to the ethos of amateur sport. The world gasped as he destroyed attacks with wizardry from his innovative and instinctive playbook. As with all sporting legends, he redefined his art.
Names such as Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Jesse Owen, Roger Federer and Gary Sobers come to mind. All seemed to play for the sheer delight of the sport itself. Statistics and records never seemed their focus, those just followed in their wake.
AB will continue to inspire generation after generation. His charm and open smile enchanted us. The opening sentence of his retirement release was perfect. “Ever since the backyard matches with my older brothers, I have played the game with pure enjoyment and unbridled enthusiasm.”
The backyard is where it starts for everyone, playing “Test matches” with family and friends.
Many years ago, Peter Pollock, such an accomplished after-dinner speaker, used to regale us with an apocryphal story of why he was the bowler in the family, and Graeme the batter. He explained that every time he got Graeme out in his backyard, his younger brother would run crying to their mother, and she would insist that Peter gave him another chance. Peter said he bowled all day!
When I was young, our wendy house in the front garden was converted into a cricket pavilion, in which my sister used to score the matches and serve tea to my cousins and me. Bushes and trees became fielders, with local rules defining the outcome of hitting them on the full, either a six or caught out. A broken window was definitely out! We played as our heroes. In those days they were Jackie McGlew, Wes Hall, Neil Adcock or Don Bradman. We dreamt of them at night.
Many youngsters will be dreaming of being the next AB de Villiers. Yet, with all that fame, AB kept that aura of “the guy next door come good”. When he cried, we cried with him as we did in the semifinal against New Zealand in the 2015 ICC World Cup. We celebrated his successes with unbridled delight.
AB is the last Protea from the “golden era” team under Graeme Smith to retire. People will harp on about the choking tag with the lack of an ICC trophy, yet nothing can take away their global stature and respect.
The ICC ranking tables tell the story. De Villers, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Imran Tahir, Shaun Pollock and Smith were top in their disciplines in two formats. Kagiso Rabada has that honour too. Makhaya Ntini, Allan Donald, Gary Kirsten and Vernon Philander were No 1 in one format.
AB was the best ODI batter for a total of 69 months and Dale Steyn the best Test bowler unbroken for 59 months. Kallis, apart from being the No 1 batter in Tests and ODIs at various times, was the best Test all-rounder for an astonishing 11 years and one month. That team rocked.
When AB retired from the international game, as legendary Springbok captain Morné du Plessis had done in 1981 before him, many in the country felt let down, as they both were regarded as our national treasures.
Only recently, in the Covid-19 bubble, with mental health issues in sport under the spotlight, did the fans and administrators fully understand the stress and depth of family sacrifice and the mental strain on the players. Being the go-to blue-eyed boy added to AB’s exhaustion. He never faltered in his quest, though. He gave everything.
As the legendary author, poet, activist and all-round inspiring Maya Angelou wrote: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
AB’s legacy can be found in his statistics; however, it was how he made us feel that we will remember. He made us feel invincible and that anything is possible.
His example, in these times of racial dissent in Yorkshire CC and the Cricket SA SJN (Social Justice and Nation Building) and with Tim Paine stepping down as Test captain amid a very public scandal, is a reminder of what the game of cricket could be like.
Cricket SA has announced an incredibly full international match schedule for the Proteas men and women teams in 2022. It will, Covid-19 willing, be a bumper time.
Street and backyard cricket will flourish, growing our base of followers, enabling us to recapture our full strength as a cricket nation.
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