Rising above all - the de Villiers style

AB de Villers was at the peak of his powers on Day 2 of the second Test © AFP

AB de Villiers called it.

The best South African batsman of his generation does not give much away in press conferences or on social media, where many of his posts are commercially-driven, but his most recent tweet was a signal of intent if ever there was one.

Replying to a post with the CCTV footage of the Kingsmead stairwell blowout on the morning after the incident occurred, de Villiers replied simply: "This series will be one to remember." South Africa were on the cusp of losing the first Test, but de Villiers could sense that the drama was only just beginning.

If South Africa were quietly pleased about the footage of David Warner's outburst making it into the media, thinking it would leave them in clean air as Australia fought through the foggy aftermath, they had another thing coming. By the time they took to the crease on Saturday (March 10), the off-field drama was continuing but the heat was on the hosts.

Overnight the Australian press had revealed how two Cricket South Africa officials had assisted an effort by supporters to shame Warner at St. George's Park, and the outrage was as thick and heavy as the irony. Strong opinions have come so thick and fast from players, officials, fans and journalists in this series that it has become impossible to swing an arm without knocking over a hypocrite in some shape or form.

Yet, the biggest problem was that the focus continued to be taken away from the sort of on-field contest that requires zero outside drama to sell it. The danger for South Africa, who also had to contend with the news that Kagiso Rabada could be playing his last Test in the series, was that the distractions could become too much.

Such has been the diversion that, asked a rambling question by a journalist after the second day's play, Hashim Amla felt compelled to clarify: "You mean about the cricket?"

But over the course of Saturday, South Africa's singular focus and Australia's refusal to back down brought the attention very much onto the game itself. "I thought today was a great day of Test cricket. Both teams fought extremely hard," said Mitchell Marsh. The best exhibit (though perhaps not the most marketable one) of neither side giving an inch came in the second session, when Amla and Dean Elgar battled through two hours of precise reverse-swing to score just 43 runs in 26 overs.

"Ideally you want to play as straight as possible, but when the ball is reversing like that, you've got to accept that things are slightly in favour of the bowler so you have to be as tight as you can," said Amla. "In that session Dean and I tried to dig in and wait for the bad ball, but the Aussies bowled really well and there weren't too many on offer. You've got to try and drive it through and hopefully the release will come at some stage. AB came in and had good momentum, so fortunately we got some runs after that."

De Villiers, as was the case in the first Test when he wasn't running himself out, was a class above. A big difference between the two teams thus far has been that while South Africa have achieved a hint of reverse through Rabada, Australia have done so through all four of their seamers. The sheer breadth of the danger to South Africa was outlined when de Villiers and Faf du Plessis saw off a challenging spell from Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, only for South Africa to lose two quick wickets to late-hooping induckers from Marsh.

Somehow de Villiers was able to rise above it all. Before the series began du Plessis noted that his star batsman was even more motivated than usual, and that motivation only appears to have been elevated by the events in Durban. On Saturday he was at the peak of his powers.

While Amla and Elgar could barely score a run, de Villiers found himself at the crease when Australia's quicks were gaining even more movement and South Africa had just lost four wickets. His response was to take 14 runs off the next over from Pat Cummins.

On a pitch where the slow pace of the surface has left batsmen struggling to hit the boundary rope, de Villiers had no such trouble. His standout stroke came in the 69th over of the innings, shortly after Amla and Elgar had fallen in quick succession. Starc was bowling from around the wicket and moving the ball in, but de Villiers threaded one thunderbolt on the up through extra cover with a drive that sent a great crack echoing around St George's Park. "AB jou lekker ding (AB you good thing)!" chanted the crowd.

By that stage the crowd had been forced into vocal action by the umpires' distaste for the band, who were told they could only play in between deliveries and overs. "The umpires came to us as batsmen and asked us what we thought about the band," Amla said. "We told them it was their call; they've got to make the big decisions. Obviously they decided it was disturbing them. I think they had a chat to the fielding team as well."

There was an irony in Kumar Dharmasena, who must have spent his entire Sri Lankan career playing in front of papare bands back home, taking the most issue with the St. George's band. Nevertheless, it was another off-field distraction that South Africa's batsmen had to put aside.

More drama is bound to follow, probably as early as Sunday evening when Rabada's case will be the fourth that match referee Jeff Crowe deliberates on in the series. With off-field events piling up, and the on-field action over-delivering, this series is turning into one to remember.