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de Villiers vs Smith

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
SmithWinner
85.6

Smith wins: Dominance, Honours

de Villiers
84.7

de Villiers wins: no category outright

Candidates
Locked to Cricket

Shareable URL · /compare/ab-de-villiers-vs-steve-smith

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇦🇺 Steve Smith
85.6

Smith leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories. The highest Test batting rating since Bradman and 36 Test hundreds.

1. Steve Smith
85.6
2. AB de Villiers
84.7

Category breakdown

Season form · Centuries per year

Career timeline · Centuries per year

Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.

GOAT pace tracker

Career stage · GOAT pace

Through year 5 · Centuries per year
1. 🇦🇺 Steve Smith5 years played · career day 3,652336 runs
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇿🇦 AB de Villiers5 years played · career day 2,191248 runs
-26.2% vs Smith at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇿🇦 de Villiers00040135435
🇦🇺 Smith00000270

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 years are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

Metricde VilliersRetiredSmithActive
Test runs8,76510,000
ODI runs9,577
ODI average53.5
Fastest ODI century (balls)31
ICC Player of the Year1
Test centuries2236
Test average56
World Test Championships1
World Cups1
ICC Cricketer of the Year2
Dominance w25%8284
Peak w20%9292
Longevity w20%8282
Honours w20%7880
Statistics w15%9292

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Smith85.6
de Villiers84.7
The people
de Villiers
Smith

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