New Warriors star Matthew de Villiers and Proteas Test international David Bedingham have an awful lot in common.
Both are attacking right-handed batters. Both were Wynberg Boys’ High School prodigies. And both had to wait until their mid-20s for a first crack at the professional level despite dominating club cricket.
“Yeah … Bedders’ story and mine are quite similar,” De Villiers, who is fresh off a maiden first-class double century, exclusively told Independent Media.
“I've always - if we're talking numbers wise - when I was 19 years old, I was the highest run scorer in the Western Province Premier League, and then sort of just continued to do well, and was always within the top three run scorers - averaging like 100 in the T20s in the club stuff - but I never really got a shot at that time, which was amateur cricket, semi-pro. I never really got a shot. I don't really know the reason.”
The 24-year-old finally received his break when former Proteas allrounder Robin Peterson spotted the talented batter in a Betway SA20 warm-up game between the Western Province Colts XI and MI Cape Town last year.
Peterson, who, of course, doubles up as MI Cape Town and Warriors head coach immediately approached De Villiers about a possible move to Gqeberha.
Having been overlooked at Western Province for many years, De Villiers had no trouble swapping his “Cape Town bubble life” for the “chilled vibes” of the Eastern Cape.
“Robin ended up calling me, and basically said he'd seen me play, and he wanted to give me a shot at the Warriors,” De Viliers said.
“There was never any talk from Province’s side. Absolutely nothing! The only thing I got was from (WP captain) Kyle Verreynne asking me if I was sticking around for a while.
“I told him I don't want to hear it from you, but from the coaches. So, yeah I couldn't turn it down.”
The move to St George’s Park has certainly been beneficial for De Villiers, where he forms part of a talented group of young Warriors batters including Proteas stars Tristan Stubbs and Matthew Breetzke along with Jordan Hermann, Jiveshan Pillay and JP King.
With Stubbs away on international duty for most of the season, it opened up an opportunity for him to be drafted into the Warriors starting XI from the outset.
De Villiers was not going to let the chance pass him by, and he made an immediate impression with scores of 94, 58, 7 and 87 in his first four first-class innings.
The initial honeymoon, however, came to an abrupt end with De Villiers enduring a lean period towards the end of last year, but he bounced back in a spectacular fashion by stroking a brilliant 201 against the Knights last week.
How has he managed to make the transition from club cricket to provincial seem so seamless?
“I think, in a weird way, my technique's not gorgeous. The biggest thing for me, what's been my strength in my game, no matter what level I play at, is my mentality towards the game and batting,” De Villiers said.
“I think it's very important in any level of cricket, if you want to do well, or I think anything in life, really, is to have the right mentality and just be smart about it as well.
“I take it, building in innings from club cricket to building in innings in professional cricket not much differently. So just basically keep a nice, simple gameplan. Get yourself in, watch the ball, get yourself in good positions, know your strengths, know your weaknesses, and basically just find things that switch you on and switch you off.”
De Villiers also paid tribute to Peterson’s coaching in helping him achieve his goals.
“Obviously I've only been there for one season, but Robbie imprinted the fact at the Warriors that we must get ‘Big Daddy 100s’.
“A lot of guys score 100s, but no one's going to remember the 100 that you score and you lose the game. You guys need to score 150, 160, double 100s.”