THE MYTHICAL BEAST AB DE VILLIERS: is there anything the Proteas captain isn't good at?

I don’t  often stray from the football field these days. In the past, I’ve written rugby World Cups; reported on England cricket tours, covered Olympics… but this twittered image outlining the achievements of South Africa’s cricket captain AB De Villiers has got me straying away from soccer.

Can one man REALLY achieve all that? Is this a massive wind-up?

His cricket credentials are NOT IN QUESTION. Abraham Benjamin De Villiers is 30 and is currently averaging 90 with the bat in Australia. Voted the world’s best One Day batsman by the ICC earlier this month, he tops the ODI rankings, is 2^nd in Tests and just this morning he weighed in with another match winning knock at the fabulous Melbourne Cricket Ground.

The records are endless in all formats. Even South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma, absent from parliament  for months, had time for this quote while at the G20 conference in Australia: “Mr de Villiers has done the country immensely proud with his sterling achievements and we wish him all the best going forward.”

He doesn’t just bat like a whirlwind. A couple of summers ago, AB took the gloves when Mark Boucher’s career was sadly curtailed; he’s a top class wicket keeper and averaged 56 while he was behind the stumps.

He also fields like Jonty Rhodes with a superb eye for a catch and a rocket-like throw … oh, and lately he’s been getting a couple of wickets with his dibbly-dobbler bowling.  Yes, Jacques Kallis was a great all-rounder… but how many can bat, bowl, field and keep wicket?

But let’s move away from cricket. As a youngster, De Villiers showed prodigious talents in all fields. He recalls: "When I was 10 I decided I was going to do something in sport one day." Full details are hard to track down but it appears he is a phenomenon when it comes to tennis, badminton, swimming, golf, sprinting and, predictably, rugby.

Just for kicks: AB takes on Dale Steyn

A Manchester United fan – he still lists Cristiano Ronaldo as his favourite player – De Villiers was a useful football at primary school in Bela Bela (Warmbaths) and played at provincial (state or county) level as an Under 12. Some even suggest he was picked for a national junior squad.

Once a scratch golfer (which means he generally goes around the course in par) now playing off nine; AB was the ultimate sporting all-rounder at Pretoria’s sports factory, otherwise known as Affies.

When he wasn’t playing cricket with brothers far older than him, AB was on a tennis court. In his first competitive match, he beat future Davis Cup star Izak van der Merwe, and he was considered a real prospect until he gave up the racket for the bat aged 13.

As a pre-teen in Warmbaths he was offered a place at Nick Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy in Florida, but turned down the chance to join the likes of Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova. Again, there are claims he was picked for South Africa’s “junior Davis Cup” squad. Incredible.

Hockey and rugby occupied his winters at Pretoria’s Afrikaans Skool for Boys. AB played provincial hockey before the rugby-mad staff persuaded him to join the odd-shaped ball religion and he was soon playing in the first XV at one of the top rugby schools in a nation known for the 15-man game. Again, he was offered a place at the Blue Bulls academy over the road. Again, he declined. But then wouldn't you?

Athletics wise, AB broke the local 100m record at junior level (Usain Bolt admitted the other day "AB is seriously fast across the ground") and, though I can find no independent verification, they say he STILL holds six national swimming records in a nation which has produced golden swimmers like Chad Le Clos and Cameron van der Burgh.

There’s more. Lots more. The story about receiving an award from the late great Nelson Mandela for a science project. And making a music album called Maak Jou Drome Waar (Make Your Dreams Come True) with singer-songwriter Ampie du Preez.

But that’s probably enough. The bloke excels on all fronts. Abraham Benjamin de Villiers: You are a legend.

KAIZER CHIEFS 0-0 ORLANDO PIRATES: It's nearly time to accept: Stuart Baxter is worthy

Top of the pile: Stuart Baxter

It’s all very well turning to club PROs and talking heads when you discuss the Soweto derby. But after Saturday’s goalless efforts in front of over 90,000 at Soccer City, you need a man of experience to explain what appears to be a footballing train smash in front of the biggest sporting crowd in the world last weekend.

Gavin Hunt, Mark Fish, Doc Khumalo, Roger De Sa, Clive Barker. They are such men. So too is Stuart Baxter, the coach roundly written off when he arrived, indirectly, to replace the unlamented Brazilian Julio Leal at the helm of the best-supported club in South Africa.

Before the greatest derby in Africa, we had Vina Maphosa, spokesman of Kaizer Chiefs, taking on Mickey Modisane of Orlando Pirates. It was great. We upset Vina earlier in the week by revealing his AmaKhosi had appointed a new acting Managing Director without telling us. Goodnews Cadogan had jumped the gun by revealing his new-found status on Facebook.

On Friday we caught Mickey too – we had a recording of Roger de Sa telling Udo Carelse on 702’s SportsTalk on Thursday night: “Benni McCarthy is just not fit, he can barely kick a ball.” But on Friday morning the official Orlando Pirates website quoted Benni saying he was fit and raring to go for the derby, and that it was just up to the technical team to select him.

Poor old Mickey.  Which was the truth? How could the Buccaneers not spot the contradiction? “I haven’t seen the medical reports,” he complained, “What the coach says is right… and so is Benni.”

Confused? We were.

So when it comes to analysing the game itself, a goalless affair marked by spectacular saves at both ends and what looked to me like a stonewall penalty to the Pirates, you have to turn to THE MAN WHO KNOWS.

That man was born in Wolverhampton, England, 59 years ago, spent an unspectacular year in charge of Bafana eight  years ago and was questioned about the validity of his CV when he returned to South Africa this season.

Now five points clear of his arch-rivals at the top of the PSL, Baxter is on the verge of proving the critics wrong, of celebrating that long-awaited championship with the Amakhosi.

This is Stuart Baxter’s summary of what we ACTUALLY SAW rather than an hysterical reaction to a goalless stalemate: “I'd have liked a better quality game, especially when it comes to passing. But the players worked very hard.

“I've never seen so many good players giving the ball away. The passing game on both sides was erratic. I think that's why it was more end to end, because the transitions (Baxter’s favourite word) were giving each other opportunities.”

“If you take any big derby, Manchester or Milan, they rarely justice do the size of the event. There were nerves out there. I've seen very few really good derby games. Usually they're blood and thunder. I don't think this one really took off.

“I know everybody asks, when we play and Pirates play, if we are sitting glued to the TV, and hoping they're going to lose. I have to say, I don't want any of our players to have that attitude. We don't become a better team if Pirates lose.

"We become a better team if we work hard at our own game, and we become an over-optimistic team sometimes if they lose or drop points.

"It's the same for us. They don't suddenly become 10 classes better if we concede two goals.”

On Kickoff.com, Baxter confessed: “I was quite happy with the first 20 minutes, we got into the game and we settled but we were not creating as many chances as we would like. Pirates took over in the last 15 minutes of the first half, because when we had the ball we gave it back to them.

"I was concerned when we went in at half-time. My team talk was obviously useless because we did the same in the next 15 minutes after half-time. But then for some reason, the lads pulled together and got better defensively.

"If you ask me if we were unlucky (not to get the winner) I don't know. We had a couple of chances towards the finish and their keeper Senzo Meyiwa came up trumps.

“I agree with Roger that it wasn't the best of games in the world.”

WILL UPDATE THIS WITH STUART BAXTER QUOTES FROM TONIGHT'S INTERVIEW!

One last blast before the holidays with Ballz visual radio