Starc: You’ve got to think outside the box to remove 'fantastic' de Villiers

Whilst conceding that AB de Villiers is “only human” – no fewer than three times in fact – Australia left-arm quick Mitchell Starc says you “must think outside the box” when bowling to the supremely talented South Africa batsman.

Starc has also revealed that he was far from happy when his captain, Steve Smith, asked arguably the world’s fastest bowler to fire deliveries down the leg-side to keep the middle-order batsman off-strike for the next over during his Port Elizabeth masterclass. The match-defining hundred helped the Proteas ace return to the top 10 of the MRF Tyres ICC Test Rankings for batsmen.

"I can't say I was too happy with that," Starc replied, when asked how often he had been reduced to such tactics. "Look, if the captain tells me to do something I'm going to do it, aren't I?"

The tactic was high praise for de Villiers, who dealt admirably with anything Australia hurled at him.

"He seems to be able to play a couple of different shots to the same length ball, so your margin for error is a lot less to someone like him," Starc said. "But he's only human, so he's going to make mistakes and you're going to be able to get him out. So, there's no doubt we can get him out four more times in the series.

"I think you've got to think outside the box a lot more with him. A good ball's still a good ball to any batter in world cricket, it's just bowling them more consistently, changing the field a little bit and maybe cutting off a couple of scoring areas for him as well. I think that's one thing we didn't do well enough to him in the first innings [in Port Elizabeth].

"We've had some lengthy discussions about some plans to him, things we might have to change, but he's only human and going forward there's no doubt we can get him out.

"He's allowed to play good cricket shots, but I think we didn't bowl that really good ball consistently enough to him to build a bit of extra pressure and make him play the false shot. It's something we've spoken about as a bowling group.”

Even Starc, one of the most potent fast bowlers in world cricket, admits that there is a fear-factor when it comes to bowling at de Villiers – he’s the big wicket that Australia’s hurlers and twirlers yearn for.

"We feel we're pretty comfortable against the rest of their batting line-up," Starc added. "I think we showed in the first Test how quickly we can go through them. He was a mainstay in the first innings of that first Test as well and again in the second Test, so they rely heavily on him and there's been a few little cameos around him.

“He's a fantastic batter, there's no doubt about that and he showed again in the first innings why he's one of the best in the world."

Mitchell Starc is the most expensive of Australia’s bowlers so far in this series, with an economy rate of 3.58, but his 10 wickets, including 5/34 in South Africa’s first innings during the first Test in Kingsmead, which helped him claim the Player of the Match award, have enabled a healthy average of 23.40.

Australia’s left-arm quick has yet to remove de Villiers, who has only been out twice during the series. After the first two Tests, the South African's four innings have yielded 225 runs at 112.50, at a strike-rate of 75.00.