AB de Villiers sets new record

STAR South African batsman AB de Villiers on Thursday became the sole owner of a unique record for batting in Test cricket that has stood for almost four decades.

When de Villiers passed 50 in the first innings of the second Test against Australia at St George’s Park, he became the first man in the history of the game to make a half-century in 12 consecutive Tests.

The Proteas wicket-keeper-batsman was eventually out for 116 shortly after lunch on Friday, caught and bowled after a rare misjudgment against the spin of Nathan Lyon.

D Villiers reached his fifty the previous day with a boundary through the leg side off the part-time spin of Steve Smith.


The 30-year-old surpassed the record that he previously shared with three other men — West Indies legend Viv Richards, and former India opening partners Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

De Villiers’ incredible hot streak stretches all the way back to December 2012 — Ricky Ponting’s final Test match — when the South African made a breathtaking 169 at the WACA Ground to help the Proteas clinch a series victory.

He’s passed 50 in every Test he’s played since then, taking in series against Pakistan, New Zealand and India.
On five of those occasions, he went on to make a hundred, of which he now has 18.

The other milestone he reached in this Test was the 7,000 runs mark, becoming just the fourth South African to do so.
The Proteas No.5 has now belted 839 runs at an average of 83.90 over the past 12 months, racking nup four centuries along the way, and his performances so far in this series have merely confirmed his standing as the undisputed No.1 batsman in world cricket.

While his teammates struggled to deal with Mitchell Johnson on a pace-friendly Centurion pitch, de Villiers was completely unflustered.

The Proteas wicket-keeper essentially got himself out in both innings of that match, being caught off the bowling of Johnson after making 91 in the first dig and 48 in the second.


He was made to work hard for his runs at St George’s Park, but by the end of his innings was batting with such fluidity that it was a shock to the system when he eventually lost his wicket.