Former South Africa international AB de Villiers made his Big Bash League (BBL) debut in the match between Adelaide Strikers and Brisbane Heat on Tuesday. ABD was presented with a Brisbane Heat cap by former Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds.
Before the start of the match, De Villiers gave an interview to cricket.com.au, where he named the best five bowlers he’s faced in his career. The swashbuckling batsman started with the legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne and explained why he was an outstanding bowler.
“Obviously, Warnie (Warne), purely intimidation factor, I think he was a good bowler, but he wasn’t unplayable. I was felt comfortable and saw the ball nicely, felt good on the bat, but between him and Gilly (Adam Gilchrist) behind the stumps, it was really intimidating for a 22-year-old to find his feet,” said De Villiers.
The former South African captain picked Stuart Broad as another bowler whom he found difficult to face. The right-handed batsman revealed that he didn’t rate England’s pacer early on in his career.
“I think Broady, Stuart Broad. Broad has come to the party in the last five years. I didn’t rate him early on, but he’s become a really good bowler. He’s sort of got my number over the last couple of series we’ve played. I’ve had these numbers a few times as well, so it’s not just the one-sided thing luckily,” said De Villiers.
Apart from these two, the 35-year-old named Pakistan’s Mohammad Asif, along with the duo of Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins from Australia.
“Some seam bowlers, Mohammad Asif from Pakistan, he’s very similar to Hazlewood once again, and Hazlewood also makes in the list and Pat Cummins as well.”
De Villiers played 114 Tests, 228 ODIs for South Africa, in which he scored 8765 and 9577 runs, respectively. He averaged 50-plus in both the formats.
