Times Media
TELFORD VICE, Auckland
EVEN a player of Dale Steyn’s stature can be upstaged by AB de Villiers’ greatness, a measure of which is that Steyn is as much of a De Villiers fan as the next bloke. In fact, for Steyn, De Villiers is a conquering hero straight out of a science-fiction movie.
So Steyn had no problem spending much of his time with the media yesterday talking about SA’s World Cup captain. How, for instance, would he stop De Villiers from scoring heavily in the cosy confines of Eden Park, the rugby stadium where SA’s clash with Pakistan was due to start at 3am (SA time) this morning?
“I’d trip him on his way out of the hotel and hope that he breaks his ankle ... I don’t know,” Steyn joked.
“I’ve said it before - there are only two games I hate every year and those are the two I play against him in the IPL (Indian Premier League). I’ve been trying to work it out in the nets but he doesn’t give all his secrets away in the nets, so that’s going to be tough.
“He’s a phenomenal player and he is seeing the ball like no other player has ever seen a cricket ball before, and he’s playing shots that I don’t think most people have seen before.
“Hopefully he comes out and executes those skills (against Pakistan) and going forward in this competition.”
How would the unusual dimensions of Eden Park, with the pitch laid along what would be the halfway line of the rugby field, which makes the straight boundaries significantly shorter than normal, impact on De Villiers’ approach today?
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a big ground or a small ground, he will find a way,” Steyn said. “That is the beautiful thing about really good players: they don’t rely on conditions.”
Steyn and De Villiers made their first-class debuts in the same match - for Northerns against Western Province at Centurion in October, 2003 - and they played their first test together - against England at St George’s Park in December, 2004. How would Steyn describe De Villiers’ progress?
“Oh, man, it’s like watching ‘The Matrix’, really,” Steyn said. “That’s Neo for you right there. He just doesn’t understand how good he is.
“When he made his debut in first-class cricket, I remember him scoring 50 and 50 on the dot (in fact, 58 and 61 as an opening batsman) and walking back into the changeroom and going, ‘That wasn't difficult at all’.
“There is no roof or cap on how good he can possibly be. He’s limitless in what he can do. He’s one of those players who has proven, in this year especially, just how good he is. I think he’s starting to realise that now.
“Players around the world are struggling to find a way to get this guy out - the only way to get him out is when he gets himself out. He’s that good at the moment.”
In his only test innings in 2015 so far, against West Indies at Newlands in January, De Villiers scored 148. Going into today’s game, he has registered two centuries and a half-century, averaging 81.66, in the eight one-day internationals he has played this year.
De Villioers scored the fastest century in ODI history - off 31 balls - against West Indies at the Wanderers on January 18, and plundered the same team’s bowlers for an undefeated 162 off 66 deliveries at the Sydney Cricket Ground last Friday.
Unsurprisingly, De Villiers is ranked the world’s top one-day batsman by the International Cricket Council.
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