AB de Villiers stokes feud by suggesting Dale Steyn deserves more respect "I think Dale has proven [himself] over the years and probably doesn't deserve some of the comments": AB de Villiers on Dale Steyn (centre). Perth: South African captain AB de Villiers has given fresh oxygen to the hostilities between Dale Steyn and Michael Clarke by asserting that his champion fast bowler deserves more respect than he has received from the Australian captain. While other players from both teams have tried to insist the Cape Town sledging incident is dead and buried, de Villiers again waded into the issue before Friday's first one-day international between Australia and South Africa at the WACA Ground. The Proteas have knocked back a multitude of interview requests for Steyn, and Clarke is clearly sick of answering questions about the incident. Although de Villiers said Steyn had moved on since suggesting he had not forgiven Clarke for what he said to him on the last day of the Newlands Test, he went on suggest the Australian had broken an "unwritten rule" governing how experienced opponents should be treated. I truly believe he has moved on, but he is the kind of guy who has played enough cricket, he is one of the world's best. I think he deserves a bit of respect," de Villiers said. I think Dale has proven [himself] over the years and probably doesn't deserve some of the comments. Whether 'Clarkey' wants to apologise or not is up to him. Dale is mature and old enough to handle it and to move on and to win cricket games for us. De Villiers said he was not fussed about how Clarke felt. I don't really know where Michael stands and I don't really care for that matter. All that matters is Dale has moved on and is ready to perform for us. What happens on the field to me stays on the field. It's going to be hard tomorrow, we know it's going to be a tough series. We're here to win, that is what it comes down to. All the other banter and the things that go on behind the scenes, I don't really care about. While the Australian selectors left Steve Smith and Kane Richardson out for Friday's game, the Proteas are weighing up whether to pick leg-spinner Imran Tahir to exploit Australia's weakness against spin or play to the conditions and go with an all-pace attack led by Steyn. He is always fired up... He wants to win games and he wants to take wickets and he wants to turn games around. I don't see that changing over here," de Villiers said. The Proteas view the five-match series as a vital chance to build momentum and confidence before the World Cup in Australian conditions. De Villiers insisted there was no reason to discuss South Africa's past failures at World Cups and made no effort to play down expectations. There's not much to say any more. The guys who are here that were part of past experiences know exactly what happened. So there's nothing to discuss except we haven't won a World Cup and we want to do that," said de Villiers, who played in the 2007 semi-final loss to Australia and in the 2011 quarter-final defeat to New Zealand. There's no need to discuss anything about choking this or failing there or we've done this wrong or we had too many psychologists here or too many fitness trainers there. We're doing what we believe is best for the team right now and if things go our way we're going to win that World Cup.