Max Mashman |
What does it take to become a legendary cricketer? You need raw talent, extreme dedication and, of course, a great personality. A bit of luck also helps. Many well-known cricket players have a combination of these traits. Only a handful have all of them. One player in particular who ticks all these boxes and has a huge amount of skill and commitment to the sport is AB de Villiers, a South African former professional cricketer known for his batting skills.
Throughout his career, AB de Villiers attracted a huge following and broke many records. Many of his fans enjoyed watching his matches; some of them took things a step further and placed bets on his success. What makes online betting for cricket great is that there’s a wide range of events to bet on and quite a few different types of wagers you can place. Those who backed AB de Villiers would have certainly had some successful bets!
Even though AB de Villiers formally retired from professional cricket on 23 May 2018, his legacy continues to impress people to this day. It also inspires young people to take up cricket and become professional players. Here are 15 facts about AB de Villiers and his extraordinary cricket career.
Personal Details
AB de Villiers was born Abraham Benjamin de Villiers on 17 February 1984 in Pretoria, South Africa. He grew up with his parents and two older brothers. His father, a doctor who played rugby union, encouraged him to take up a sport, which, of course, ended up being cricket. After playing for the South Africa U19 team, he made his professional debut playing for the Titans in the 2003/4 season.
Married Life
AB de Villiers is happily married with three children: two sons and one daughter. He began dating Danielle Swart in 2007 and proposed five years later in 2012 at the Taj Mahal. They married the following year.
Nicknames
AB de Villiers earned the nickname Mr 360 because of his ability to hit shots with both precision and ease no matter where he was on the field. He’s also been known as Superman thanks to his incredible performance in matches.
Most Catches in a Season
In the 2016 season, AB de Villiers took no fewer than 19 catches, which was a rate of 1.187 catches per innings. No one has beaten this record, but two other players, Riyan Parag and Ruturaj Gaikwad, have come close with 17 catches each.
Social Media Popularity
Like many other high-profile sports stars, AB de Villiers is active on social media. The retired professional cricketer is currently the most followed South African with 30 million followers. He’s made 980 posts, many of which were related to cricket in one way or another. He also has accounts on Facebook and X.Â
Fastest Fifties and Centuries
AB de Villiers held the record for the OCI fastest fifty for over 10 years from January 2015 to May 2025 when Matthew Forde matched his record of 16 balls faced. As for OCI fastest centuries, de Villiers’ record of 31 balls faced remains unbeaten.
Batting Average
When he began his professional cricket career, AB de Villiers was a wicket-keeper-batter, though he most often played as a batter, preferring the middle order. He became known for his impressive batting skills and rather unorthodox movements. To this day, he remains one of a small number of batsmen to have a batting average of greater than 50 in both ODI and Test cricket.
Maak Jou Drome Waar
In 2010, AB de Villiers and singer-songwriter Ampie du Preez, released an album. Its title is Afrikaans for ‘Make Your Dreams Come True’. There are 14 tracks, of which nine are in Afrikaans and the remaining five are in English. They’re mostly power ballads about following your dreams and being in love. The songs were recorded from 2009 to 2010, and the album was released on the Sony Music Africa label. AB de Villiers has also had a band called The Cowboys.
2015 Cricket World Cup
Some would say that 2015 was the highlight of AB de Villiers’ cricket career. When he took part in the Cricket World Cup of that year, he was one of the best-performing players. He ended up as the third-highest run scorer with a total of 482 runs and did a brilliant job of captaining the South Africa national team. However, he didn’t manage to lead them to victory as South Africa lost to New Zealand in the semi-final stage.
International Cricket Council Honours
Throughout his career, AB de Villiers received many honours from the International Cricket Council (ICC) thanks to his skills and talent as a cricket player. He was named ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year three times (2010, 2014 and 2015) and was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame in 2024. He also won ICC Men’s Test Team of the Year five times and ICC Men’s ODI Team of the Year seven times.
More Awards
AB de Villiers earned several other prestigious honours during his career. In both 2014 and 2015, as well as being named ICC Men’s ODI Cricketer of the Year, he received the award for Cricket South Africa Cricketer of the Year. Then in 2022, he was inducted into the Royal Challengers Bengaluru Hall of Fame. During his time with this Indian Twenty20 cricket team from 2011 to 2021, he notched up 4,491 runs in 144 innings.Â
Other Sports
AB de Villiers has dedicated much of his life to cricket, though he’s played a few other sports at various stages of his life. These include hockey, rugby, golf and tennis, though he’s said that cricket is the only one he was ever good at. He was considered for the national hockey team at one point. For a while, he was said to be an all-rounder who excelled at every sport he tried, though he clarified in his autobiography that this wasn’t the case.
Autobiography
Speaking of his autobiography, it was released in 2012 and has the simple title AB de Villiers – Autobiography. It’s well rated on Amazon with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 from 870 reviews. As you’d expect, it tells the story of AB de Villiers’ early years and professional career in his own words. He also discusses his religious beliefs and mentions that the Holy Bible is one of his favourite books.
Number 17 Jersey
Throughout his professional cricket career, AB de Villiers wore a jersey with the number 17 on it. He chose this number because it was the day he was born and he considered it to be lucky.Â
Friendship With Faf du Plessis
Faf du Plessis is another South African cricketer who’s become one of the sport’s top players. The former captain has been labelled one of the best midfielders and all-format batsmen in modern cricket. He and AB de Villiers go way back as the two went to school together. In fact, when they were both 15 they played for the school’s cricket team.
