Super Kings’ De Villiers goes big with SA20 ‘balls box’ quote

There’s a boy-next-door quality about the Joburg Super Kings’ Matthew de Villiers.

Only a boy next door would share, as a mic-ed up De Villiers did on the first day of 2026 in a match against the Durban’s Super Giants (DSG), what he was running off the Wanderers for.

“I actually need to go off because I must put my ball box on,” De Villiers said. “I’m ‘keeping now.”

De Villiers was sharing his thoughts not only with a slightly stunned SuperSport commentary team of Pommie Mbangwa, Mark Butcher and Kass Naidoo, but a TV audience of tens if not hundreds of thousands.

He even laughed good-naturedly at his own joke. It didn’t appear to faze him in the slightest.

Quickest on her feet after the “ball box” revelation was Naidoo, who could only respond (to laughter and giggles in the background): “Let me not hold you back.”

This, of course, was a cue for further laughter. It was the best New Year’s Day quip in years.

It’s unfortunate, in a way, that De Villiers’ notoriety has come from his “ball box” quote, because it obscures the fact that the Warriors batter is a pretty handy all-round cricketer.

He hasn’t shot the lights out in the SA20 — his highest score in the competition so far was his 38 against DSG — but he’s demonstrated enough clean-striking ability to catch the eye.

He’s a tall man, with a strong leg-side game, who shows the occasional Steve Smith-type flourish.

The former Wynberg Boys’ High cricketer (Wynberg also produced Jacques Kallis and Richard Levi) can also bowl and keep wicket.

It makes him a three-in-one type player, which will hold him in good stead as the business end of the competition approaches.

His team, the Joburg Super Kings, are currently in third place. A playoff place isn’t safe just yet, but you rather fancy that when the knockouts happen next week, Kings will be there or thereabouts.

It will also hold “ball box” in good stead as his career flourishes, which it’s appearing to do at the moment.

De Villiers’ journey, you rather feel, will extend well beyond the confines of this year’s SA20.

A key item in his armoury will surely be his out-there sense of humour — and the fact that it’s always good to see a young player not take himself too seriously. De Villiers doesn’t appear to be embarrassed easily.

In the cut-throat world he’s likely to find over the coming years, it might be as priceless a gift as a pair of soft hands.

Contrast the chirpy De Villiers with the altogether more subdued Nqobani Mokoena, a right-arm fast bowler with a bag of tricks to rival the magician David Copperfield.

Out of Northwood High in Durban, the school that produced Shaun Pollock and Keshav Maharaj, Mokoena has been turning out in the SA20 for the Paarl Royals.

The Royals have lost momentum slightly as the round-robin phase of the competition comes to an end, but with MI Cape Town likely to remain stuck at the bottom, they should have enough gas to make the playoffs.

The result in Monday’s match against Durban’s Super Giants notwithstanding.

It’s not easy to bowl seam-up in Paarl. The wicket is dry, it’s often blisteringly hot and carry to the ‘keeper is always an issue, which makes life for Mokoena on his home ground more difficult than it should be for a fast-bowler.

He, though, has adapted with real smarts. He’s ballsy, too.

Not content to bowl only one or two slower balls an over, Mokoena might bowl three. And he might bowl all three in succession.

It shows a young bowler who not only has craft, but it shows one with confidence, a confidence that can easily be shred by the punishing format.

Life has moved quickly for Mokoena in the last few months. He has only played two first-class matches for the Dolphins, making his debut at Kingsmead against KwaZulu-Natal Inland in a high-scoring match in mid-October.

Now he’s on TV, playing in South African cricket’s biggest shop-window.

He might not have come up with De Villiers’ “ball box” quote, but he’s been talking to us a great deal.

We hear him loud and clear.