Considered to be one of the all-time greatest fast bowlers, Dale Steyn on August 31st decided to call time on his cricketing career, by announcing his retirement on his social media accounts.
He featured in 93 Tests (439 wickets), 125 ODIs (196 wickets), and 47 T20Is (64 wickets). He had made his ODI debut for Africa XI against Asia XI in 2005 at Centurion, while made his Test debut against England in 2004.
In an exclusive interview with editor and author Gasant Abarder for SAcricketmag, Dale Steyn talked about his beginning in cricket and shared some unique insights into what made him a complete package.
Though friendly and soft off the field, Dale Steyn was an aggressive and expressive bowler on the field with his fiery celebrations after taking wickets.
“When you walk on to the field it’s a different kind of place. You can express yourself the way you want and behave and act in a way different to your normal self. I thought the cricket field was a stage and I wanted to use that,” Steyn said.
"You were Fire"- Cricket fraternity pays rich tributes to Dale Steyn after he announces retirement
“As I was growing up, I was watching guys like Shane Warne, Allan Donald, and these other greats like Curtly Ambrose and what they did on the field with intimidation and how they got wickets. I thought I could pretty much bring that into the way I play cricket and it became part of a really good act. It’s theatre. Nobody wants to play against this teddy bear and I wanted to get people scared and have that fear factor around myself,” he added.
Steyn also talked about his energetic wicket celebrations which saw his veins almost popping out and said, “The celebrations? Sometimes I thought I was going to pop a vein. I think people were worried but the best thing is that I never got injured during a celebration which was great because I’d heard of other guys getting hurt, so, I’ve managed to get through 20 years of international cricket without hurting myself after taking a wicket.”
Dale Steyn had previously retired from Test cricket in 2019 due to the effect of various injuries but had continued to play in limited-overs international matches for Proteas and featured in T20 leagues around the world.
(SACricketmag inputs)
