De Villiers to make Big Bash debut with Brisbane

South African great AB de Villiers will make his debut in Australia's T20 Big Bash League during the 2019-20 season after signing with Brisbane Heat, the team announced Tuesday.

The 35-year-old prolific batsman will join the Heat for the second half of the eight-team competition that runs from December to February. 

Coach Darren Lehmann said he was "over the moon" to have the opportunity to work with De Villiers for the first time.

AB De Villiers averaged 69.6 with a SR of 182 in England's Vitality Blast.

If he plays the full 8 games of his #BBL deal including finals, that's 557 #supercoachbbl points for runs alone!

Then there's strike rate bonus...

Absolute lock 😱🔒

— Tim Michell (@tim_michell) October 1, 2019

De Villiers played 114 Test matches, 228 ODIs and 78 T20Is in a 14-year career for the Proteas before retiring from international cricket in 2018.

He starred for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in this year's Indian Premier League, scoring 442 runs at an average of 44.2 with a rapid strike rate of 154.

He said the decision to join the Heat for the BBL from January, including the finals should they qualify, was an easy one to make.