AB de Villiers has rated last month’s series-defining hundred against Australia in Port Elizabeth as one of the best of the 22 he has scored in his career.

With the Proteas 0-1 down and facing the prospect of a first-innings deficit in the second Test, De Villiers seized control with an unbeaten 126 from just 146 deliveries to turn the tide.

Former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith said at the time, ‘it was one of the best hundreds I’ve seen live – just the situation of the game, the way that he played – he made it look like a different game out there…’

De Villiers, in an interview with The Guardian, said: ‘Sometimes you don’t quite realise what you have achieved until you look back. We were about to collapse like we had in Durban and it was, “Here we go again”. So to get through that and score a special hundred that helped the team to victory was unbelievable. It was one of my best ever.

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‘It’s not often you get into that kind of zone batting either. I just felt so calm at the wicket. It’s so strange, your head just goes quiet sometimes. Days like that don’t come around very often, so you have to enjoy it.’

De Villiers has now altered the tempo and is starring for Royal Challengers Bangalore, having scored 280 runs from six innings, sitting just three behind the leading run-scorer, Ambati Rayudu, who has 283 from six.

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