The best bowler De Villiers ever faced

South African superstar AB de Villiers has faced - and conquered - some of the greatest bowlers in the world during his 12 years at the highest level, but says an unknown quick with just one first-class match to his name is the best he ever faced.

In his recently released book AB: The Autobiography, De Villiers says long-time friend and former Northerns fast bowler Gerrit Deist "always caused ... problems" when he faced him as a younger player.

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De Villiers says Deist, 11 years his senior, "was and remains a great friend to me and my brothers" and the pair's history stretches back to playing backyard cricket against each other when the current Proteas champion was just a boy.

The experience has had a lasting effect on De Villiers.

"Even now, whenever I'm asked to name the best bowler I have ever faced, the answer that springs most quickly to mind is Gerrit Deist," he wrote.

"That's not the response I give in media interviews because it would need to be followed by a lengthy explanation but it's the truth.

"We later played club cricket together for Tukkies (Tuks Cricket Club); I faced him in the nets on numerous occasions and he always caused me problems."

Deist, a left-arm quick, played his one and only first-class match for Northerns in 1999, taking 3-54 against a Natal side featuring former England batsman Kevin Pietersen.

De Villiers says the backyard contests as a boy against Deist, his elder brothers Jan and Wessels as well as their group of friends including future Test and ODI player Martin van Jaarsveld helped to shape his career.

"He was 22, and I was 11," De Villiers recalls of one particular battle against Deist, who was bowling with a taped-up tennis ball on a modified  backyard 'pitch' that was just 14-yards long.

"He was a tall, strong fast bowler playing senior club cricket in Johannesburg. I was a Laaitjie (child) playing barefoot at Warmbaths Primary School.

"He paced out his run-up as far as he could go, right back into the rose bed.

"(This was) the uncompromising environment in which I learned to play the game."