Your margin for error is a lot less to someone like de Villiers, reveals Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc has exclaimed that the margin for error is extremely small when a bowler is going up against AB de Villiers after he helped the Proteas level the four-match Test series at 1-1. De Villiers starred for the home team with a decisive knock of 126* in the first innings of the match.
De Villiers has been one of the most entertaining players to watch in recent times across all formats of the game. His variety in shot selection and the innate ability to read bowlers has made him a formidable asset for the Proteas side. Arguably, the 34-year old has not been at his best, but even so, when it’s his day, you just cannot stop the high-flying batsman.
De Villiers stamped his authority in the second Test match versus Australia as he hit a decisive knock of 126 that helped the home team win the match and level the four-match series at 1-1. Mitchell Starc, who played an integral role in the win a match before, admitted that the margin for error is extremely minute when it came to de Villiers.
“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.
“But he’s only human, so he’s going to make mistakes and you’re going to be able to get him out and people have before in the past and I’m pretty confident in our bowling attack. So there’s no doubt we can get him out four more times in the series,” Starc said in an interview to ESPN Cricinfo.
Starc added that the Australian bowlers' failure to get De Villiers out was probably what cost the visitors the match. But the pacer did not put much thought into it as he said that they hoped to get him out much earlier in the next Test match at Cape Town.
“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 didn’t bowl enough good balls to him.
“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 on him and make him play the false shot. It’s something we’ve spoken about as a bowling group and as a team moving forward in this series and hopefully that starts in Cape Town and we can get him out fairly cheaply,” Starc explained.
