Veteran South African speedster Dale Steyn said on Friday (November 2) that "it's going to be pretty interesting" how Australian cricket shapes up following the ball-tampering scandal.
Ever since Justin Langer took over the top role as Head Coach of Australia cricket team, he made conscious efforts to change the culture of the team, stressing on the need to play within boundaries, but Steyn feels it is going to be hard to crack the culture that has been going on over the past decades.
The Proteas pacer told reporters, “It's going to be interesting to see which direction they go. Every time you play against Australia, you still feel like that culture from years back is going to be hard to crack. They're in your face, an aggressive team, and people want that but you talk about this line - who knows where it is - but there's rules and you've got to play along those rules.”
He further went on to explain, “We've got to grow up with the times, that's just how it is, and behaviour is one of those things that has become very much part of the game. There are strict rules. KG [Kagiso Rabada] has faced harsh criticism and some trouble even within our side.”
Meanwhile, there have been a lot of calls to lift the ban on Steve Smith and David Warner considering Australia’s dismal run in the recent times, and Steyn, understandably, refused to comment on the same but still expecting a tough challenge from the hosts in the upcoming limited-overs series.
He further added on the same, “I'm not the headmaster here. I don't make the rules and what the punishment is. But we all make mistakes and how each country deals with it is their issue. Those two [Smith and Warner] are always going to test you. You want to be playing against the best. But I can guarantee you when you're running in at Chris Lynn and he's eyeing out deep midwicket, and Aaron Finch who's been scoring runs lately especially for Surrey, it doesn't matter. You've just got to take on who is at the other end, regardless of the name. When we walk out to the middle, it's on.”
Steyn signed off by saying, “Any time South Africa plays against Australia it is always a good spectacle, both teams are highly competitive and do everything that they can to win. I don't think that will change come Sunday. Both teams are coming off a little bit of a step back, Australia haven't had the greatest tour in the UAE and they are trying to re-build themselves. We haven't played much competitive cricket for a long time. We played against Zimbabwe recently, with respect to them, those were tough conditions and we had the better of them in the bowling department and that is why it showed that way. I think it will be evenly matched.”
South Africa will take on Australia in Perth on November 4 in the first One Day International of the three-match series will be followed by a one-off T20I in Queensland on November 17.
(Input: Cricbuzz)
