Having finally attained full fitness after two years of painful battle with injuries, the great Dale Steyn has expressed relief at his performance during South Africa's 2-1 ODI series win in Australia, where he picked up seven wickets at 13.42 and stated, he thought that he might never get to play for Proteas at this level again.
After sustaining a shoulder injury in Perth during the Test tour down under in 2016, Steyn made a return to cricket only recently in July this year.
More than the wickets, it is the fact that he bowled with that innate pace and hostility which is being seen as a great positive for Steyn, who desperately wants to win the rainbow nation its maiden World Cup title in England next year.
“Not so long ago I didn’t think that I would be playing cricket again, When I broke my shoulder I had this real drive to come back, but it took a long time. It took a solid six months before I could bowl again and I kept joking with my physio saying it was like U9 pace … I could get my arm over but there was no momentum,” Steyn was quoted saying on Sports24.
“I knew that once I started playing again it would be like riding a bike. I’ve done it for so long and I’m blessed with a very natural action and things come quite easy.”
Sten, who has returned home to take part in the inaugural Mzansi Super League (MSL) where he features for Tshwane Spartan, has been rested from the standalone T20I at Gold Coast on November 17.
He further talked about his plans and how living in the present is helping him stay focused and said, “The World Cup is still a long way away. I think right now my biggest influence in that World Cup side is to come in and really push buttons where I can. I know that when I play well you will see that other guys start to play well too."
"You’ll see KG [Kagiso Rabada] is performing even better because there is good competition and rivalry within the side," he stressed.
“That’s my job right now. When that side gets selected, whenever it does, that’s somebody else’s job and we’ll worry about that when it comes. Right now I just want to play the next game available to me,” he signed off.
