Cricket

Super Steyn strikes like no other fast bowler in final send-off

Published

5 years ago

31st August 2021

Keo

Dale Steyn was pace. He was swing. He was spirit. He was possibility. He was bluff. He was trance. He was – and is – life, reports Mark Keohane.

I absolutely loved Cricinfo’s Sidharth Monga’s tribute to the virtues of Dale Steyn’s bowling.

‘When you can’t catch a break in life, find footage of Steyn’s wicketless spells. They’ll inspire you and they tell you there is a wicket not far away, and that once you get one, you need to have a red-hot go at getting more,’ wrote Monga, referencing Steyn’s spirit in going wicketless for 69 overs against India in the 2013/14 series, but refusing to concede defeat.

Steyn, in a media interview, once said that when he visualized bowling as an 18 year-old he wanted to run in like Brett Lee, leap like Allan Donald, bowl as quick as Shoaib Akthar and be as accurate as Shaun Pollock.

Pakistan’s Shoaib is famous for saying that to be a fast bowler a player had to be crazy, and while Steyn certainly had those crazy eyes whenever given the ball, his career has been so much more than just that of a crazed fast bowler.

Steyn casually on Tuesday, 31sth August, 2021, announced his retirement from all formats of cricket.

Steyn is South Africa’s greatest fast bowler, one of the best to ever play the game internationally in all three formats and the fast bowler with the most potent strike rate in Test cricket’s history.

439 Test wickets at 42.3.

Ridiculous record 🙌#DaleSteynRetires pic.twitter.com/dlkKoorKOC

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 31, 2021

Steyn is of that rare modern breed of perfectionist that has conquered all in Test cricket, excelled in the 50 overs ODI version and has embraced all the nuances of T20.

To give context to Steyn’s cricket career, one has to continue to repeat his bowling statistics: 439 Test wickets, at an average of 22.95 and with a strike rate of 42.3 in 93 Tests. 125 ODIs: 196 wickets, at an average of 25.95, an economy rate of 4.87 and a strike rate of 31.9. And finally, 47 T20 internationals: 64 wickets, at an average of 15.8, an economy rate of 6.94 and a strike rate of 18.35.

Steyn finished with 699 international wickets in his international career, has sent down 25 879 balls. In his first-class career it exceeded 41 000 balls bowled.

From July 2009 to December 2013, Dale Steyn held the top spot in the ICC Test rankings for 231 consecutive weeks 🤯 pic.twitter.com/7POJMDha1W

— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) August 31, 2021