Brisbane Heat’s huge coup in signing South African superstar AB de Villiers for the 2019-20 season of Big Bash League (BBL) has got Chris Lynn in particular very excited.
A heartfelt email from Darren Lehmann helped the Brisbane Heat land the signature of De Villiers, who his new teammate Lynn has labeled the ‘biggest signing in BBL history’.
"Probably the biggest signing in @BBL history" – @lynny50 #BringTheHeat #BBL09 pic.twitter.com/ASXufvcC1g
— Brisbane Heat (@HeatBBL) October 1, 2019
A courtship two-and-a-half years in the making was confirmed on Tuesday, with Lynn suggesting “Christmas has come early” with one of the most talented cricketers the game has ever seen to make his BBL debut during the second half of the upcoming season.
De Villiers played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is in his 14-year long career for South Africa before retiring from international cricket in 2018.
Known as ‘Mr 360’ because of his ability to improvise and play shots in every direction, he uses his skills to deadly effect in the shortest format of the game. De Villiers has played 295 T20s in his career, having notched 8,186 runs with a strike rate of 149.84.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL) last season, ABD scored 442 runs at an average of 44.20 and a strike rate of 154 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
He also starred for Middlesex in the recently-concluded Vitality T20 Blast, scoring four half-centuries in eight innings.
