Maxi's spin could undo De Villiers

Australia allrounder Glenn Maxwell could possess the Kryptonite to stop South Africa Superman AB de Villiers in the upcoming three-match T20 international series.

While Maxwell is a walk-up start in Australia's XI for his sheer batting power and seemingly endless repertoire of strokes, it could be his right-arm off-spin that skipper Steve Smith will call upon to dismiss De Villiers before he gets flying.

An examination of the run-machine's T20I record has revealed what could be an Achilles' heel – right-arm spin.

Of the bowlers who have dismissed him on multiple occasions in T20I cricket, it's the off-spin of India's Ravi Ashwin (three times in five games) which has been the most effective.

De Villiers averages a healthy 26.66 against Ashwin, up three runs from his overall mean of 23.49 from 65 matches, but against the likes of England's Graeme Swann (average of 3.5), Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi (7) and Black Caps veteran Nathan McCullum (10), the audacious right-hander struggles.

In fact, it's not only right-arm spin, but right-arm pace as well that the game's most feared batsman battles to overcome.

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Against right-arm seamers, De Villiers averages 11.95 and has been out without scoring four times – his overall career tally.

But Smith won't be taking the prolific Protea lightly come the first fixture on Friday in Durban.

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

"He hits the ball 360 degrees when he is going. 

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

"He's a terrific player and very hard to stop."

Smith and Bupa Support Team Head Coach Darren Lehmann will be buoyed by their success against two of Test cricket's modern day batting giants as they attempt to shut De Villiers down.

England Test captain Alastair Cook made run after run after run in Australia in the 2010-11 Ashes tour.

The obdurate left-hander tallied 766 runs across the five Tests, grinding the hosts into the dust as England won the Ashes Down Under for the first time in 24 years.

But since then, Cook, who hit three centuries on that tour, has failed to reach triple-figures in 15 Tests against Australia and averages only 29.41 – almost 100 runs less than he did in 2010-11.

Australia discovered that if they honed in on off-stump, gave no width nor bowled short, Cook's scoring options decreased dramatically, which lead to maidens, pressure, and mistakes.

The same game plan has worked against Kiwi batting maestro Kane Williamson, albeit across a significantly smaller sample size.

Williamson scored two centuries in the opening two matches of the Australian summer and was unruffled by Australia's short ball strategy. 

In his first four innings of the summer, in Brisbane and in Perth, Williamson scored 140, 59, 166 and 32 not out.

When Australia's seamers zeroed in and around off-stump, keeping the ball back of a length and offering no room to free his arms, the Test captain-elect went 22 and 9 in Adelaide (day-night Test), 16 and 22 in Wellington and 7 in the first innings in Christchurch, before patiently compiling 97 in the second innings at the Basin Reserve. 

Smith says there is a difference between the patient Test plans set for Cook and Williamson to those they have prepared for De Villiers.

But Smith says the key is to defeat the South African superhero as early as possible.

"He's an absolutely quality player in all formats of the game," Smith said.

"If he get going he's extremely hard to stop.

"We're going to have to come with a few things to make sure he doesn't get started."