Should AB de Villiers bat at three for South Africa?

One of the greater talking points heading into the Cricket World Cup has been the display of pyrotechnics which AB de Villiers blessed us with against the West Indies in Johannesburg.In case you've missed it, Abbas smashed a 31-ball hundred against a completely helpless West Indian pace attack. Of interest is the fact that AB achieved this feat batting at first drop. For those not familiar with South African cricket, de Villiers has generally batted at four and five for South Africa, but there is a school of thought which reckons he should bat at three. It's certainly a matter worth considering as he is our best batsman, and the traditional thinking does have your best batsman batting at three. The elephant in the room though, is the fact that till now, Ab has shown at best hesitation and at worst flat out refusal to bat higher up the order. He won't even do it in the shortest format of the game. AB believes that he bats better coming in later, and the stats do bear it out. He averages a not insignificant 72 batting at five, vs 62 batting at three. Both are enormous averages, but a ten run swing does tend to give flesh to the idea that AB shouldn't really be moved. There's also the fact that Faf Du Plessis is probably a more natural #3 in any case. More adept at handling the pressure exerted on a batter batting at three if an early wicket falls. He is also quite a destructive hitter, as evidenced by his 46-ball hundred against the equally hapless West Indian T20 outfit. As a player he ticks all the required boxes for a sturdy #3. I'd venture so far as to say he's the sturdiest #3 in the game at the moment, and his record against Australia is exactly what's needed in a major tournament where Australia are the hosts. Whether you're talking of his heroics in Adelaide in Test cricket, where he obdurately clocked a match saving draw, or his rich vein of form in Zimbabwe a five or six months ago, where he showed great proficiency against a reasonably full-strength Aussie line up, there is no doubt that Faf rises to the occasion against the Australians better than any South African cricketer, maybe ever. The only drawback in continuing with Faf is that he isn't capable of the pyrotechnics at the end of an innings which AB is. There's no shame in that, no one is capable of the pyrotechnics AB has seen fit to bestow on international cricket. That doesn't and shouldn't change the fact that he is a very good cricketer more than capable of changing through the gears, and accelerating to the level which is expected of him. AB is just capable of accelerating to levels no one has ever seen before.