‘I remember going to the nets and I watched Jonty Rhodes hit balls…’ – AB de Villiers recalls life changing moment with Jonty Rhodes

Former South Africa captain, AB de Villiers recalls a day when he was a kid and one of his brother’s cricket teammates accidentally broke his Jonty Rhodes cap. In an almost 14-year career that included 415 international games for the Proteas, De Villiers concluded as the second-highest run-scorer in the nation with 19864 runs across all forms, just behind Jacques Kallis.

De Villiers was inspired by one of cricket’s greatest fielders as a child, Jonty Rhodes. A Jhonty Rhodes hat was purchased by an 11-year-old de Villiers while attending a game at Centurion Park. The 39-year-old described the incident to Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema’s Home of Heroes, saying:

I was broken, and I was shattered: AB de Villiers 

“I was 11 years old when I went to Centurion Park for the first time. I watched my first live game. I saw Shaun Pollock getting his first wicket and I remember going to the nets and I watched Jonty Rhodes hit balls and there was someone selling caps and balls, like most cricket grounds. And I saw this green and gold Jonty Rhodes cap and I got my dad to buy it for me,” De Villiers was quoted as saying to Robin Uthappa on Jio Cinema’s Home of Heroes.

The Jonty Rhodes cap didn’t bring back any pleasant memories for De Villiers because his brother’s friend ruined it during a game. A young ABD dropped a catch, which to this day serves as a bad reminder.  De Villiers said how that incident left him shattered.

“I’m in the field and it’s one up, one end, and I dropped one and one of my brother’s oldest friends. He was bowling and I dropped the catch of his bowling, and he came to me, and he said, take off that hat because you’re not worthy of wearing that. And he sort of stepped on it. And I was broken, and I was shattered,” the right-hand batter asserted.