After everything‚ AB de Villiers is still at centre stage

Instead he snuck into the room stage left and wore the look of a man who was happy just to be around.

Hours earlier‚ De Villiers’s blistering 176 had taken South Africa to a total of 353/6‚ a record for Boland Park.

Bangladesh were dispensed with for 249 in 47.5 overs as South Africa clinched victory by 104 runs to seal the series 2-0.

“Even if he had got out for a hundred it would have been a different game‚” Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza said.

“But those other 76 runs made a difference.”

Maybe De Villiers didn’t think so as he sat down and spoke with something like softness in his voice and in his eyes. Or maybe he had other things to think about. It had‚ after all‚ been a while.

He was last in a South Africa shirt at the Champions Trophy in England in June‚ and a lot had changed.

Since then‚ De Villiers had become a father for the second time‚ opted out of South Africa’s test series in England and against the Bangladeshis‚ relinquished the one-day captaincy‚ and not been there to welcome Ottis Gibson aboard as the new coach.

“It’s great to be back‚ a huge privilege‚” De Villiers said.

“The last few months I’ve been been working on my game. All I wanted was to get back in the side.

“I was quite nervous. It felt like my first game.”

What did he make of Gibson?

“I had met him before he was announced as coach. I knew he was a great guy.

“He wanted to know where I was headed with my career. I told him I wanted to get back in the side.

“I needed a couple of months with the family and I enjoyed the first off-season I’ve had.”

For some players‚ the team becomes their family. Did he miss the men he spends more time with than his wife and children?

“I did. I watched all the games the guys played. I did miss being on the park.”

But‚ for all the changes that had happened while De Villiers had taken a break‚ he was confident the big picture was still what it had been when he left.

“It feels quite similar to before. It’s the same kind of guys and the same culture.

“‘Gibbo’ brings a different feel. He’s quite a confident man and he knows what he wants.

“You get the feeling we know where we are going as a team.”

The other big difference for De Villiers before and after is that Faf du Plessis is now South Africa’s one-day captain.

Not so big‚ De Villiers said: “Faf and I have come a long way together. We speak the same language‚ we know each other’s game well.

“I had a long run as a captain; I just felt like it was enough and I wanted to enjoy the last few years of my career‚ not that I didn’t enjoy being captain.

“I know what Faf is capable of as captain. He could be the best.”

De Villiers will also be under Du Plessis’ captaincy for the one-off‚ four-day‚ day/night test against Zimbabwe at St George’s Park in December. If he makes the team‚ that is.

“If selected‚ I am there — I can’t accept that I am going to be in the squad. I have been out of the squad and guys that have come in have done well. You don’t just walk into South Africa’s test team.”

And so it all resumed for De Villiers where it began‚ in a sense. His first game as captain was against Sri Lanka in January 2012‚ and also at Boland Park. He scored 52 in a total of 301/8 and engineered the Lankans’ demise for a pitiful 43.

Now he’s five years older and wiser and perhaps a touch humbler‚ and he knows how to change a nappy with one hand while reading a story with the help of the other.

But‚ as Wednesday proved‚ his own story hasn’t changed. He’s still at centre stage.

- TimesLIVE