How Brisbane Heat’s three-year plan to sign AB De Villiers came to fruition

It took almost three years for Brisbane Heat to land the most sought-after signature in Big Bash League history. Here’s how the Heat pulled off the signing coup of South African legend AB De Villiers.

The most sought after signature in Big Bash history took nearly three years to secure.

The Sunday Mail can reveal the extraordinary mission the Brisbane Heat produced to bring South African legend AB de Villiers to Australia.

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De Villiers will make his third appearance for the Heat in Sunday’s clash against the lowly Melbourne Renegades at the Gabba.

He fired with 40 on debut for the Heat last Tuesday and could be the player to end their seven-year BBL title drought.

That is why the Heat spent more than two-and-a-half years convincing de Villiers to have a crack at the Big Bash with them.

AB de Villiers (right) was a sought-after signature at the Gabba during his debut game for Brisbane Heat.

“The initial discussions started in February, 2017,” Heat general manager Andrew McShea said.

“We’d just finished that BBL campaign and Dan Vettori was our coach at the time. We had Brendon McCullum under contract and we wanted to stack our batting with de Villiers and McCullum in the same team.

“AB was still playing international cricket at that time so it was a little aspirational but we thought there might be a two or three-game window he could play.

“That was the start of the process. From there it’s been a constant dialogue with AB and here we are.”

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While the Heat first registered interest in de Villiers nearly three years ago, they failed to land him for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 Big Bash tournaments.

De Villiers, 35, was still playing international cricket during those early years, amassing more than 20,000 runs across the three forms of the game for South Africa.

But when he announced his retirement from the international arena in May, 2018, the Heat knew their chances would improve.

Want to bat 3 for the @HeatBBL @ABdeVilliers17 🤔 I know a bloke... 🙏

— Chris Lynn (@lynny50) May 23, 2018

Heat captain Chris Lynn made it publicly clear he wanted de Villiers in Brisbane the day he announced his retirement.

“Want to bat 3 for the @HeatBBL,” Lynn tweeted to de Villiers.

De Villiers had grown tired of the constant travelling and political infighting surrounding South African cricket and wanted to scale back.

He became a T20 specialist, dominating short tournaments around the world. But the timing of the Big Bash across the Christmas-New Year period was a stumbling block.

“Early last year there was a bit of press about him potentially playing,” McShea said.

“We thought we were pretty close (to signing him) in March last year. We thought we were one of a couple of teams. We then heard he wasn’t available to play.

“It became a bit of a lesson in persistence. I set a reminder in my calendar for every three weeks to message or call his agent. We did that for two or three months.

“Then we got a message saying the door might be ajar and away we went.”

AB De Villiers drives through the off side during his Brisbane Heat debut against Adelaide Strikers.

The Heat parted ways with Vettori and McCullum following last summer’s inconsistent tournament.

Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann, who oversaw the Heat’s BBL02 title, returned to the coaching hot-seat and immediately set his sights on de Villiers, wanting him to bat at No. 4 for Brisbane.

The Heat knew de Villiers was reluctant to leave home during the holiday period so they thought outside the box, instead signing rising English star Tom Banton for the opening half of the tournament.

“AB had spent the best part of two decades away and has a young family,” McShea said.

“We know how precious that time over Christmas and New Year’s is. That was a huge factor as that’s when the competition is on.

“Things started to change around April-May if we could find the right window. We were happy to give him that time with family then come out in January and be with the group for the business end of the tournament.

Chris Lynn flagged a BBL stint with AB De Villiers while the pair was playing in the Indian Premier League.

“Lynny had discussions at the last IPL with him and has done over the years. He reached out to him and spoke to him about what a great environment it is, the style of cricket we like to play and how good being in Queensland is over summer.

“Darren wrote him an email to express how great the environment would be and how much his family and kids would enjoy it. That was a key moment.

“We had all hands on deck to try to make it happen. It was a really good lesson in persistence and I’m over the moon we’ve been able to pull it off.”

The Heat announced the signing of de Villiers in October and are already reaping the rewards of bringing one of the world’s best batsmen to Brisbane.

Sunday’s Renegades game could be close to a packed house at the Gabba and the Heat are expecting another huge crowd for Thursday’s final home match against Steve Smith’s Sydney Sixers.

The Heat will also soon begin discussions with de Villiers about him returning to Brisbane next summer.

“We want to see him play here for as long as he’d like to,” McShea said.