Stupendous Steyn rocks India
8 Feb 2010
Dale Steyn put on a masterclass of fast bowling to topple India for 233 and confirm his status as the world’s premier bowler.
Day three belonged entirely to Steyn, who seemed to have supernatural control over the direction the ball would veer through the air, while the India batsman were left wishing for supernatural intervention to rescue them from the massacre.
Steyn’s extraordinary spell in the third session of play – in which he took five wickets for just three runs in five overs to finish with figures of 7-51, his first two scalps coming in the morning session when he sent Sachin Tendulkar packing with a superlative outswinger that brushed the edge of his bat, and accounted for Murali Vijay, who’ll be lamenting his decision to shoulder-arms one that tracked backed appreciably – forced India to follow on. At the close of play they were in desperate trouble at 66-2, still 259 runs behind.
Spare a thought for Virender Sehwag, who crafted a characteristically aggressive century (109 from 139 deliveries). However, outside of 136-run stand between the India opener and Subramaniam Badrinath, the hosts’ scorecard looks decidedly woeful – Gautum Gambhir the only other batter to get into double figures.
Sehwag’s departure, thanks to a careless waft at a wide Wayne Parnell delivery, signalled the outset of a dramatic capitulation – 192-4 becoming 233 all out in the space of 18 overs.
Paul Harris got a delivery to bounce fiercely out of the rough outside MS Dhoni’s leg stump and brush the India captain’s glove en route to Jacques Kallis at slip.
Cue the Steyn Show.
He had Badrinath caught at mid-wicket, before pinning back Wriddhiman Saha’s off stump with a sublime 140.7 kph reverse-swinging delivery. Zaheer Khan then fell to 141.8 kph gem, tailing in once more and catching the inside edge before smashing into the sticks.
Amit Mishra took his seat in the pavilion two overs later, this time it was a 143.9 kph rocket that again kissed the inside edge and mangled the furniture. Finally, Harbhajan Singh’s resistance ended when he was wrapped on the pads by a delivery that defied physics in its flight path – swinging from well outside off stump.
After a brief consultation with his team, captain Graeme Smith enforced the follow-on with a 325-run lead, and soon India were reeling once more.
Morné Morkel accounted for Gambhir with a ball that swung into the left-hander and rocked his off stump – Gambhir not offering a shot. Steyn wasn’t done, and profited when Sehwag flashed wildly at an unthreatening delivery, nicking off to first slip.
Tendulkar holds the key to India’s fortunes, but even the most optimistic India supporter would be reluctant to back the little master to not only wipe out the deficit (with the aid of a partner who is equally skilled and resolute), but also set the Proteas a competitive target.
Unless India stage an impossibly brilliant fight back only one result looks likely at this point.
South Africa (1st innings) – 558-6 declared
Hashim Amla 253, Jacques Kallis 173, AB de Villiers 53, Zaheer Khan 3-96.
India (1st innings) – 233
Virender Sehwag 109, Subramaniam Badrinath 56, Dale Steyn 7-51
India (2nd innings) – 66-2
Murali Vijay 27, Sachin Tendulkar 15
For full scorecard click here
India trail by 259 runs with 8 wickets remaining
By Ryan Vrede
188 Comments
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8 Feb 2010, 11:23 am
Edit: he’d NOT he’s
8 Feb 2010, 11:25 am
@Schizo: At the moment he is, yes. Imran Tahir should maybe get a go too when his papers are sorted
8 Feb 2010, 11:27 am
Our last quality spinner was who…?
Paul Adams…
He got 134 wickets in 45 tests
Harris has gotten 83 so far in 27…
He’s not doing badly
8 Feb 2010, 11:27 am
Steyn gets another wicket! Bowls Mishra!
Six wickets for Steyn!
8 Feb 2010, 11:27 am
6 fer for Steynkie!
8 Feb 2010, 11:28 am
@WP_: gotten/got…. Not sure
Dof moment
8 Feb 2010, 11:29 am
@WP_: I’m a sub-club cricketer. Obviously he’d get me out.
He’s not the answer to SA spin plain and simple. Compare him to any of the spinners in almost any other test nation. Would you rank him above Vettori or Swann – and they’re not even the big guns like Muralitharan, Kaneria, Hauritz…
8 Feb 2010, 11:30 am
@Schizo: Who are you to call him bollocks then?
Haha, that’s hilarious
8 Feb 2010, 11:30 am
If Steyn gets another one here, it will be his career best bowling.
Previous best: 6/49 (he’s currently on 6/51).
8 Feb 2010, 11:31 am
look steyn is good, but there are better bowlers than Steyn : unfortunetely not of the right colour … bowlers that can compete with Steyn includes : Bashier Walters, Plaaitjies, Kleinveldt, Abdullah and Ethy mbalati (spelling)
8 Feb 2010, 11:32 am
@rashied: Nice attempt st trolling.
But not at all good. Needs work
8 Feb 2010, 11:33 am
@Schizo: So he may not be as good as Vettori or Swann, but he does the job for us mate..
Who would you rather have Botha?
He hardly turns it either
8 Feb 2010, 11:33 am
Kief, cool and kwaai.
8 Feb 2010, 11:33 am
@WP_: My point is that he’s not quality and should probably not be in the team. Not that he’s “better” than Paul Adams or Joe Blogg. He’s not a patch on ANY of the other leading nations spinners.
Personally, I’d rather see another medium pacer that can bat rather than him.
8 Feb 2010, 11:35 am
WP_ have you ever, ever given praise to a non white player before? I rate Ntini highly aswell … on top form he is 20% better than steyn
8 Feb 2010, 11:36 am
@Schizo: It has NOTHING to do with ‘ANY of the other leading nations spinners’.
And everything to do with SA. Why go for an all seam attack? That’s boring and one-dimensional
8 Feb 2010, 11:36 am
@Jack Parow smaaks the Proteas heavy like:
Howzit Jinx!
8 Feb 2010, 11:37 am
@rashied: Oh course I have. Who the hell are you
8 Feb 2010, 11:38 am
He does it! Steyn gets his career-best, seven wickets in an innings!
7/51, his new career best!
8 Feb 2010, 11:38 am
Steyn has 7 …
8 Feb 2010, 11:38 am
@WP_: We wouldn’t be all seam. Duminy can turn his arm over.
8 Feb 2010, 11:38 am
@rashied: Ntini isnt getting younger. Yes he was a quality bowler in his day, but that day is past. And no he is not bettter that Steyn or Morkel or Parnell or Lonwabo Tsotsobe for that matter
8 Feb 2010, 11:39 am
steyn you beauty!
8 Feb 2010, 11:39 am
WP
I don’t know why you have your panties tied in a knot re this Harris issue. I was merely responding to Quota_Duminy_Quota_Prince’s statement “Its not about race. Its about performance.” regarding his choice of nic. You really can’t tell me that Harris performed well this season. His counterpart in the English team, Swann, took 20 wickets, playing on the same pitches while here in SA. Harris could not produce the same kind of performances and you know that.
Again, I was not kicking Harris, I was calling on QDQP to be consistent.
8 Feb 2010, 11:40 am
@Schizo: Duminy will be a good spin bowler one day but he’s still finding his feet.
At this stage I feel it would be too much to ask him to do all the spin bowling on his own
He is immensely talented though and will be a great all rounder
8 Feb 2010, 11:41 am
@nama1: Yes he has performed well this season Mr Mini Cricketer.
8 Feb 2010, 11:42 am
Brilliant Steyn. Absolutely brilliant. Well done.
Second time round may be tougher. Keep your head down and give it to them one more time, with help from the others of course.
8 Feb 2010, 11:43 am
@WP_: But the point is Harris still shouldn’t be in this team. You could quite easily replace him with another sub-standard fast or medium pacer who would pick up as many wickets as Harris (Friedel de Wet comes to mind) and leave the spinning up to Duminy.
8 Feb 2010, 11:43 am
soooooo??
whats happening guys?
whats the score?
8 Feb 2010, 11:44 am
lmao vergil what a name
8 Feb 2010, 11:45 am
ok, i see the follow on has been forced.
steyn you beaut!!! must be the top test bowler in the world at the moment surely?
looks like biff declared at just the right time, this ones ours for the taking.
can the indian batsmen hold out for over two days or will they make us cry like onions did?
cmon proteas!
8 Feb 2010, 11:47 am
Amla could’ve had 265 by now at the rate he was batting. 3 runs every over
8 Feb 2010, 11:49 am
3 runs an hour i mean
8 Feb 2010, 11:51 am
so where is the tackler to tell us what a poor bowler steyn is?
egg on the face for you tacklebag. maybe you should learn to shut your big gob and just let people think you are a fool?
8 Feb 2010, 11:51 am
@rashied:
You like trolling, don’t you? Go find a bridge somewhere else.
8 Feb 2010, 11:52 am
@rashied: troll
why try and be something you will never be?
8 Feb 2010, 11:54 am
India are 1/1 in their second innings!
Morkel nails Gambhir, makes him his bunny!
8 Feb 2010, 11:56 am
@WP Till I Die: WHAT!!! gonna be a long day in India…
National strike and marches to be held, beware those flaming torches being hurled onto the field.
What a test, nice one.
8 Feb 2010, 12:02 pm
@rashied:
Steyn is the best in the world, bud. No one can touch him at the moment. He just needs more work on his opening spell.
He has the 5th or 6th best strike rate in the history of test cricket the last time I checked.
No boet, try another one.
@WP_:
Let’s see. Harris has a SR of 83, an average of 39 and an economy rate of 2.87 this season. Kallis and Morkel have a better ER than him, yet you claim he is doing a good holding job.
Come now WP. You are not always right, you know. The only thing counting in Harris’ favour, is that we don’t have an alternative at the moment. I agree with you that his overall record is decent, but as far as this season is concerned, he should be included in that other guys’ name as a below average performer.
8 Feb 2010, 12:03 pm
@FireStraeuli:
I would believe that if there were more than 10 people at all three days of this test, combined.
No-one’s there.
8 Feb 2010, 12:04 pm
Why do we want Kirsten to coach us again?
8 Feb 2010, 12:04 pm
@FireStraeuli:
Just 20 schoolchildren screaming like banshees for the whole day to make it seem as if there’s a crowd.
8 Feb 2010, 12:05 pm
@rangerman: 81 – Very right, Steyn is the best fast bowler in the world at the moment. Someone here said it was Johnson from Oz a month back. Wrong it is our boy Steyn. He was just brilliant today. The best ever we have had. 7 for 51 runs. Is just awesome.
8 Feb 2010, 12:06 pm
the samoosa shops wont make any money today
8 Feb 2010, 12:08 pm
after this test Kallis will be ranked nr 1 batsman … and Steyn nr 1 bowler
8 Feb 2010, 12:08 pm
Wow! Morkel really hurt Sehwag there. Good bouncer into the rib-cage.
8 Feb 2010, 12:08 pm
@rashied:
Pietman … is that you.
8 Feb 2010, 12:09 pm
@Dawn: What’s up with the lack of spectators, I thought cricket was like a religion in India, not very religious are they…lol
8 Feb 2010, 12:09 pm
@rashied:
Got tired of the Quota this Quota that nic?
8 Feb 2010, 12:10 pm
india 0 steyn 7
beaaaaatiful…. do we still think biff should have batted for another hour this morning?
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