His last World Cup: A Steyn cricket wears with pride

KARACHI: Cricket has changed. It has changed quickly and it has changed drastically. Fast-bowlers are no longer feared and the legends of yesteryear are now confined to the pages of history. Now, it is the batsmen who rule.

Dale Steyn, however, never got that memo.

A natural ability to move the ball away late from the right handers, an aggression that borders on the edge and searing pace mean Steyn is a throwback to the olden days; the last of a dying breed of fast-bowlers that newer generations may never witness — and he will be playing in his final World Cup.

Steyn’s playing career has coincided with a time when conditions are more batsman-friendly than ever before but the man from the small town of Phalaborwa is the most lethal bowler in Test history with 150 wickets or more. With 396 Test wickets already to his name, he threatens Glenn Mcgrath’s positions as the highest wicket-taking fast-bowler of all time.

In just five years of making his debut, he was already a bona fide Test legend; 232 wickets in 45 matches at an average of 23.31. In the game’s longest format, Steyn already had an incredible 15 five-fors; but in 50 overs, he had none.

And that perhaps was one criticism levied on Steyn — the only criticism levied on Steyn; that he was unable to transfer his form and class with the red ball to the white one.

As good as he was in Tests, there was still that niggling feeling that Steyn was not the same bowler when he donned the dark green. That, however, changed when 2011 — the year of the World Cup — came around.

In 14 matches that year, he took 25 wickets at an average of 19.32 and a drastically reduced economy of 4.37. In six matches in the 2011 World Cup, Steyn took 12 wickets and gave away just 192 runs, including his first ever five-wicket haul when he took 5-50 against hosts India in Nagpur.

Steyn impressed with figures of 2-42 to restrict New Zealand to 221 but was helpless as a dramatic batting collapse — the Proteas lost eight wickets for just 64 runs — saw South Africa bow out of the World Cup in the quarter-final stage.

A strong South Africa side had once again disappointed at the World Cup but Steyn went from strength to strength.

Till 2011, Steyn had taken 61 wickets in 43 matches at an average of 31.31, an economy of 5.38 and strike-rate of 31.21. He has since played 53 matches and has taken 90 wickets at an average of 21.03 — a decrease of more than 10 runs per wicket — and an economy of 4.32 — a decrease of more than one run per over. His average is second only to Mitchell Starc — by a measly 0.33 runs per wicket — but he has conceded 0.7 runs less per over.

In T20s, Steyn has the best average and the best economy of all fast-bowlers, while his strike-rate of 14.8 is second only to Umar Gul.

And so Steyn became the most feared fast bowler in all three formats of the game. To go with his searing pace and deadly movement, he discovered newfound control over the cricket ball.

That is where Steyn has perhaps surpassed even some of the greats of yesteryear. He has dispelled the notion of aggressive wicket-taking fast-bowlers going for runs. In fact, with an economy of 4.32 since 2011, he is the only fast-bowler from any Test-playing nation to have conceded less than 4.5 runs per over.

Nor is Steyn a one-dimensional bowler that requires specific conditions to succeed. Since 2011, in the bouncy pitches of Australia, Steyn averages 28.14. In the swinging conditions of England, 19.42. At home, 20.07. Even on the dead pitches of India and UAE, 15 and 9.33 respectively.

Too many are Steyn’s match-winning contributions to be listed down. Too many the weapons he can unleash on unwary batsmen. He has succeeded in all conditions, against all teams and in all formats. The only downside, though, is that we may never see another such bowler again. All good things must come to an end, and Steyn will almost surely never grace cricket’s biggest tournament ever again.

 

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