Abraham Benjamin de Villiers will be the first cricketer without a knighthood to be picked by me but more importantly his astounding versatility is what gets him in here. Whether it was playing one of the more exhilarating knocks of the series in Bengaluru or one of the most famous attempts to try and secure the draw two tests later in Delhi, whether it was excelling in cricket or being a decent at rugby, tennis, golf, whether it was being outstanding in the field or behind the stumps... AB could do it all. Hell, he could even sing!
After a steady start that was followed by a slump, AB's career really took off when he was finally entrusted with a middle order role instead of being shoehorned in as the opener against Pakistan. Since then till the end of his career he managed to average fifty five and this includes a stint where he acted as the keeper for his side. In contrast to established wisdom, AB's average when he was the keeper was a remarkable fifty seven showing that it would have no significant impact on his batting capabilities if he were to be the keeper. His test captaincy stint may have been quite short due to his infamous sabbatical but he isn't here to be the team's captain when we have much better options. His role is to bat in the middle order and play as the game situation asks him to.
Viv Richards
Garry Sobers
AB de Villiers
Keith Miller
Ian Botham
To be honest, I haven't quite decided if AbD should bat ahead of or behind Sobers as I'd like to see where the draft is before making that decision base on how many of my other targets are still available. This is still a big luxury to have so I'm not complaining!
I believe @Paranoid Kendroid has the next pick. Looks it'll be another extended period of having my fingers crossed with my next pick being so far away.
EDIT: Can't bring myself to erase the write-up after having spent time on it so this one stays up as a sign of my folly.
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