Braam Stroker

Okay, it was an under-19 tournament. And the teams taking part: India A as a replacement for Pakistan who copped out, and Kenya. And India didn’t even make the final, having lost to Bangladesh. But de Villers’s 192 off only 144 balls in the final surely counts for something, even if against Bangladesh.

Some 11 months later, the Safs selectors decided to trust obvious class, the domestic batting averages, and their instincts. The 20-year-old Braam, the teen hero of Faridabad, was to open the innings against England at St George’s Park.

It was not a smooth or obvious progression.

When told in Kanpur last November that the last century scored by a Safs batsman in India had been a match-winning whirlwind, Omar Henry blinked. He couldn’t recall the event. And he had all the records.

What about Braam de Villiers against Bangladesh? Did he remember that? It didn’t really count.

And new Safs coach Ray Jennings scratched the side of his head and admitted that while the Centurion-based youngster had promise, suggesting he was a readymade Test opening batsman was carrying credibility a little too far.

Jennings had been with De Villiers in Zimbabwe with the Safs A side while Eric Simon’s tenure as senior coach was sliding into oblivion as the better-prepared Sri Lankans ran amok. Jennings held the view in Kanpur that De Villiers was worth watching, but there were other names, and also the quota system had to be filled to satisfy the politicians.

Once the Eden Gardens Test was over and Andrew Hall’s makeshift efforts as opener had been played out, Jennings sneakingly admitted that someone like De Villiers would have been useful in India.

It makes you wonder whether selectors and coaches play close attention to the under19 players and check their records. They do it in Australia and New Zealand and even in Mugabe’s fiefdom.

Young De Villiers was not a Johnny-Come-Lately. He had been one of the successes of the Safs under-19 team in England in 2003 and, in his first four SuperSport Series (first-class) innings, put successive 50-plus innings on the board.

Afrikaans-speaking as with Kepler Wessels, young AB had a choice of playing rugby union or tennis. Yet, within a year of his efforts on the outskirts of New Delhi, he was identified as a major talent for the future.

He is seen as an attack-minded opening batsman, who has filled the role as a dependable match-saving lower-order batsman/wicketkeeper with an eye for pulling off the spectacular. He even said before heading for India and the under-19 tournament that nerves did not really bother him. He liked the responsibility of being a top-order batsman.

Something else that emerged before the Commonwealth tournament was how he prefers to play the attacking role. Virender Sehwag was one example he admired. He liked to be aggressive, and get the score moving and keep it moving. Yet at the same time playing solidly and reducing his risks.

‘‘I’ll always be looking to attack’’, he agreed. ‘‘You have the bowler guessing, like Adam Gilchrist and Sehwag do.

They do it all the time. It is the way the game is going; you sit and watch, and learn. It’s fun to do that.’’

His second Test century, so far his highest at 178, was also his slowest. It was a match to win the series. In his first Test at Centurion, he scored 92 and then finally the first century in the second innings. He now he has a Test average in the lower 50s. Not at all bad when you think, 16 months ago was an unknown belting the leather off the ball on New Delhi’s doorstep.