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Aussies humiliated Dale Steyn
18/12/2007 21:37 - (SA)
Christo Buchner , Beeld
East London - When Dale Steyn walked off the field after his ODI debut for the Proteas he promised himself that he would never feel as humiliated again.
"I had tears in my eyes," the Proteas pace bowler admits when he recalls that one-day international at the Telstra Dome in Melbourne.
The Australian batsmen had hammered more than 60 runs off his six overs and the spectators had called him every bad name under the sun. "I told (assistant coach) Vinnie Barnes that I had never felt worse on a cricket ground," Steyn says.
"I was horrified. It was the worst time of my life. I could not even begin to think that there were such intimidating venues anywhere on earth."
That was January 2006. Now, less than two years later, the 24-year-old from Phalaborwa is on top of the cricket world.
"My hand still starts trembling when I take the ball to bowl," Steyn said on Tuesday. "I cannot imagine what has happened to my bowling during the past few months.
"It's a dream come true. Just look at what happened in Port Elizabeth on Sunday night."
He still shakes his head when he thinks about his 4-9 in three overs in the rain-curtailed Pro20 match against the West Indies - the best figures by a South African in this form of the game.
Try to enjoy the moment
Add to it the 29 wickets he has taken in four Test matches and it is clear that he has arrived on cricket's international stage.
"I can't really explain it," he says. "I just try to enjoy the moment and ride the wave for as long as I can. I have so much rhythm in my action and feel so comfortable that I just want to keep on bowling.
"It feels as if it is the most natural thing that I'm doing."
Steyn's cricket is indeed red hot. Everything he touches turns to gold.
He has all the skills of a thoroughbred pace bowler who instills fear among batsmen. His speed and his ability to swing the ball are his major assets, but not the only ones.
He conceals his slower delivery so well that batsmen find it almost unplayable.
"I used to be terrified of trying to bowl a slower ball. It took a lot of convincing before I started doing it in matches," he says.
He hates hitting batsmen, he admits. In recent months, he felled New Zealand's Craig Cumming and Jacques Rudolph of the Eagles, bringing their seasons to an end.
"I know it helps us when one of our opponents' top-order batsmen have to retire but I don't enjoy hurting any batsman deliberately.
Big shock
"I also don't talk too much to the batsmen when I bowl. I rather concentrate on taking their wickets. That gives me much more pleasure."
Steyn admits that the competition from his Titans team-mate Morné Morkel is one of the main reasons for the venom in his bowling.
"It was an eye opener to me when Morné suddenly appeared on the scene to take my place. At the age of 24, I should be replacing other guys; not being replaced. It was a big shock to me," he acknowledges.
"I can hardly wait to see what's going to happen when Morné is fully fit and available again. I only know he is not going to get my place. Someone else will have to stand back for him because I'm going to cling to what I have.
"The way things stand now, SA cricket will be the winner because the seam bowlers will be giving each other a run for places in the team."
Steyn is not setting himself specific targets in the series against the Windies.
"I'm just going to keep bowling the way I have done recently; whatever happens must happen.
"If you suddenly discover after a Test match you are ten wickets behind the total you had planned to take, you only place unnecessary pressure on yourself," he explained.
But if he continues bowling the way he has done for the past two months, Steyn will have a Christmas stocking full of wickets.
- Beeld
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