NCN reveals secret of de Villiers dismissal

It has been one of the hardest riddles to crack in world cricket for the past five years: how to get out AB de Villiers.

The South African superstar is arguably the finest batsman on the planet, recognised officially as the best in ODI cricket by the International Cricket Council, ranked sixth in Test cricket and is a damaging T20 stroke-maker whose ranking belies his ability.

The 32-year-old is top of the list, king of the hill, A-number-one.

Opposing captains have instructed their bowlers to try bouncers, yorkers, inswingers and outswingers, play the patience game and go for the jugular.

They might have come off here or there, but nothing has worked to consistently dampen the magic. 

Australia skipper Steve Smith was fully aware of the threat posed by de Villiers when he arrived in South Africa last Sunday, and came armed with the latest philosophy to stop the phenomenon.

"He (de Villiers) is one of the most destructive, if not the most destructive batsmen in the world," Smith said.

"He does hit the ball 360 degrees so when he is going he's very tough to stop.

"But we're going to have a few plans in place that will hopefully work.

"He's a terrific player and very hard to stop. We're going to have to make sure we come up with a few things to get started."

Set 158 to win, the capacity Kingsmead crowd has humming on Friday night when de Villiers walked to the crease alongside opening partner Quinton de Kock, marked his guard at the striker's end and prepared to face the first delivery of the run chase.

But before the visitors could unfurl their anti-ABdV formula in full, a steamrollering Nathan Coulter-Nile had other ideas.

"I was a little bit nervous bowling to AB to be honest," Coulter-Nile said on Saturday.

Perhaps they were nerves of steel.

Coulter-Nile, tasked with bowling the first ball to de Villiers, galloped in from the Umgeni End and delivered an outswinger on around the sixth-stump line, nipping away off the dry Durban deck.

The batsman, feet in cement, prodded at the loosener, attempting to guide the ball down to third man for a single to get off the mark and get down to the safety of the other end.

But the hard new ball kicked, found the outside edge and offered a catch to debutant Peter Nevill he gladly accepted.

 Out for a golden duck.

"If I can keep doing that I'll be happy," the grinning bowler said.

"We didn't get to implement the plans, it was just bowl a good ball early doors and then we'll try and get into what we have to do.

"I got a little bit lucky; he tried to lay one down to third man and he just didn't quite get it."

Perhaps that's what it takes to get a batsman the calibre of de Villiers – a bit of luck.

The audience was stunned. Silenced. You could hear a pin drop.

"I just heard – well, I didn't hear, it was pretty quiet," Proteas batsman David Miller said after the game when asked what the mood was like when de Villiers departed.

"There was a bit of hush hush (from the crowd). It's never a great thing to start your innings like that, but we know he's going to be back in the next couple of games and the (T20) World Cup.

"He's a class player.  It's never nice to go first ball."

It means we will have to wait another game, most likely Sunday's second T20 international at the Wanderers, for the unveiling of Smith's master plan.

Despite the breakthrough and the sense of relief that followed, Coulter-Nile was not getting ahead of himself in a format that can turn from friend to foe in a matter of moments.

"It's always good to get a wicket, but you get brought back to earth pretty quickly – I went for 10 the next over," he said.

"T20s are up and down, you don't want to get too carried away when you're going poorly or too carried away when you're going well."