In this batting era of cricket Dale Steyn and fast bowling, there can be no better story than this. Former South African fast bowler Allan Donald had said goodbye to cricket at a time when South Africa was going through a bad phase when their former South Africa captain Hansie Cronje's controversy brought South Africa a lot of notoriety. Staying in cricket for South Africa was not easy after the South Africa team was out of the 2003 World Cup due to the captaincy of Shaun Pollock.
After this begins a bowler who only knows how to bowl fast. South Africa's tour of England in 2004 when Dale Steyn appeared as a young fast bowler and made his debut in a Test match like this.
Dale Steyn never looked back and all the batsmen who came in front of him were blown away by Dale Steyn's expectational fast bowling skills.
There is probably no better bowler in the history of Test cricket than Dale Steyn in terms of strike rate and in an era where bowling was not easy at all. Imagine what the numbers would be if Dale Steyn had played in the 70's or 80's era.
While Dale Steyn took 439 wickets in Test cricket at an average of 22.95, Steyn took 196 wickets at an average of 25.95 in 125 ODIs for South Africa.
Today, through twitter, Dale Steyn said while announcing his retirement,
“Today, I officially retire from the game I love the most. Bittersweet but grateful.”
“It’s been 20 years of training, matches, travel, wins, losses, strapped feet, jet lag, joy, and brotherhood. There are too many memories to tell.
“Thank you to everyone, from family to teammates, journalists to fans, it’s been an incredible journey together.”
Dale Steyn, who said goodbye to Test cricket in 2019, has been battling injuries for some time, where he believes,
“I guess Covid-19 kind of made me see things differently, it wasn’t fun anymore. And if it’s not fun then it’s not worth doing,” Steyn said. In his social media post, he summed up his state of mind as “bitter sweet but grateful”.
Thanks to Dale Steyn whose fast paced bowling will be remembered for centuries to come.
