"fiery exchanges" with South African batsman Theunis de Bruyn as well as South African spectators. In the second Test match, Starc came into disagreement with his captain Steve Smith over how to bowl to South African batsman AB de Villiers. Smith directed Starc to bowl "negatively" to de Villiers, who had scored a century, asking him to deliberately bowl the ball down the leg side so that de Villiers couldn't reach it to score runs and keep the strike for the next over. Starc played with a calf problem and bowled poorly during the match, only taking one wicket, which put him in doubt to play in the third Test match. Starc passed a fitness test to play in the third Test match, but he was ruled out of the final match of the series with a stress fracture in his right leg. The series was overshadowed by the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal. The Australian team was caught in the third Test match using sandpaper to rough the cricket ball and make it easier to swing, which is against the laws of cricket. On the day that they were caught cheating, Smith claimed that "the leadership group" had come up with the plan together, which would have implicated Starc as he had been a member of the leadership group at various times. Starc was not found to be involved, but Cricket Australia gave Smith a 12-month ban from international and domestic cricket and a subsequent 12-month ban from team leadership positions. Months after the scandal, Starc said that his relationship with Smith had been "strained", but remained "very much in tact". 2018–2019 Starc didn't return to competitive cricket until September for Australia's Test series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, giving him his longest break from cricket in more than three years. During his long break, Starc worked with bowling coach David Saker on his bowling action. Because of his frequent injuries and soreness, Starc had adjusted his action to reduce his pain, and as a result he couldn't get the ball to swing as much. He made adjustments to bring his bowling action closer to what it had been in the 2015 World Cup, and in the 2018–19 season he got the ball to swing more again. Starc struggled for form in the 2018–19 Border–Gavaskar Trophy series against India. His bowling in the first Test match was seen