Dale Steyn, the great South African pace bowler, announced retirement from international cricket bringing curtains down on an amazing career that saw him taking 439 wickets in 93 Tests, 196 wickets in 125 ODIs, and 64 wickets in 47 T20I matches.
He had made his debut for Africa XI against Asia XI in 2005 at Centurion, while made his Test debut against England in 2004.
During an exclusive interview with SA Cricketmag, Steyn said that his on-field persona was made up of the elements he took from paying close attention to what the likes of Shaun Pollock, Donald, Ambrose, Shoaib Akhtar, and Brett Lee did on the field.
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Furthermore, during the interview, Steyn was asked about the toughest batsmen he bowled to during his career.
“Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting were amazing batters [and sometimes you’d just nod in appreciation]. They’re aware of your skills, too, so they’re trying to come out of this contest between batter and bowler unscathed, trying to get away with it without getting out. They only have one chance, where I at least get six balls,” Steyn said.
However, he singled out tailenders as the most frustrating batsmen to bowl to given their penchant to ruin bowling figures.
“Sometimes the best batters in the world weren’t the guys that bothered me that much because of that mutual respect. If I bowled well, they’d play me well. The guys I worried about were the guys who didn’t worry about who I was. The tailenders who came in and were scared but ruined your figures. You could have 5-20 and think this is a beautiful day. Then you go 5-70 because they smacked you for a couple of boundaries. There wasn’t one specific name, it was all of them who posed that threat,” the former Proteas bowler said.
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The interviewer asked Steyn to name his favorite wicket he had taken in his international career and the right-arm pacer immediately named former England opener Marcus Trescothick as his choice.
“The one I’ll always remember is my first Test wicket, Marcus Trescothick. You can’t get it any better. Great batter and it hit the middle stump. Everyone’s like always, middle stump! I prefer to hit off-stump … nipping away to the right-hander, top of off. I got Michael Vaughan out like that. I only wanted to take one wicket for South Africa and that’s why I remember the first one. It’s the one that really matters,” Steyn said.
(SAcricketmag inputs)
