Happy Birthday Dale Steyn: Dale Willem Steyn was born in 27June,1983. He is a South African professional cricketer who plays for the South African Cricket Team. He is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. During the 2007/08 season Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at an average of 16.24, and was subsequently rewarded with the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013,and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2013 in 2014’s Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.He was also featured in Wisden Cricketers of the Decade at the end of 2019.Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings during the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan sits next on the list with 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,356 days at the top as of 6 October 2016, the most by any bowler since World War II. In October 2012, former South African test cricketer Allan Donald called the South African pace attack, which Steyn was part of, alongside Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, the best South Africa has ever produced. In December 2018, during the first Test against Pakistan, Steyn became the leading wicket taker for South Africa in Test cricket, previously held by all-rounder and former-captain Shaun Pollock.
Happy Birthday Dale Steyn: Wishes pour in as South Africa's veteran pacer turns 37
Steyn grew up in the small town of Phalaborwa on the border of the Kruger National Park in South Africa.Steyn made his first-class debut for Northerns (subsequently merged with Easterns to form the Titans) on 17 October 2003. He only played two first-class games and made little impact in his first season, but a series of strong performances in the initial part of the 2004/2005 season saw him called up to the Test squad to play England. He went back to playing for the Titans after failing to impress in his first three Tests.Steyn went to England in 2005 to play for Essex, appearing in seven matches between May and June. He failed to make a big impact in his initial outing in County Championship cricket, taking 14 wickets at 59.85. Following his work at Essex with world expert bowling coach Ian Pont Steyn returned to domestic cricket in South Africa, where he bowled excellently for the Titans through the 2005/2006 season which earned him a recall to the Test squad to face New Zealand.Steyn seized the opportunity to cement his place in the South Africa Test team, and as a result of becoming a regular selection for the national team, he has subsequently played little domestic cricket in South Africa during the last three seasons, appearing for the Titans in just three SuperSport Series matches.He had a second stint in England, playing for Warwickshire in the first half of the 2007 English season. This time around he had more success, claiming 23 County Championship wickets in seven matches at an average of 25.86.He also played well in the Friends Provident Trophy, a 50-over tournament, finishing as the leading wicket-taker for Warwickshire. He has since become a regular in the South African One Day International team.Steyn signed to play in the Indian Premier League in 2008, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He earned US$325,000 for his appearance in the tournament. For IPL 2011 he was bought by Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million.He later spent two seasons at Sunrisers Hyderabad, one season at Gujarat Lions and had a brief stint at Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2019.In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Cape Town Blitz team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In October 2019, Steyn signed to play in the Big Bash for the Melbourne Stars. In December 2019, he was drafted by PSL franchise Islamabad United as their first pick of the draft in the Platinum Category.
Dale Willem Steyn was born in 27 June 1983. He is a South African professional cricketer who plays for the South African Cricket Team. He is regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. During the 2007/08 season Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at an average of 16.24, and was subsequently rewarded with the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013, and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2013 in 2014’s Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.He was also featured in Wisden Cricketers of the Decade at the end of 2019.
Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings during the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan sits next on the list with 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,356 days at the top as of 6 October 2016, the most by any bowler since World War II. In October 2012, former South African test cricketer Allan Donald called the South African pace attack, which Steyn was part of, alongside Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, the best South Africa has ever produced. In December 2018, during the first Test against Pakistan, Steyn became the leading wicket taker for South Africa in Test cricket, previously held by all-rounder and former-captain Shaun Pollock.On 5 August 2019, Steyn announced his retirement from Test cricket, to focus on limited-overs cricketSteyn is an aggressive out-and-out fast bowler capable of bowling at speeds in excess of 150 km/h. He is capable of generating considerable swing and is usually chosen to bowl with the new ball to maximize these attributes. He bowls at 140 -150 He has also demonstrated the ability to reverse swing the older ball in a Test match against India in Nagpur in 2010,which South Africa won by an innings and six runs. Steyn is an extremely competitive cricketer and often celebrates vigorously after taking a wicket. He has stated that he "love(s) the buzz from bowling fast" and that he "want(s) to be the quickest in the world".Steyn is usually considered a tail-ender when batting and usually bats at number nine. He is, however, a capable hitter of the ball and can also occupy the crease if required
Successful years
Steyn kept his Test place for the three match home series against India. He picked up an injury whilst bowling early in India's first innings in the first Test at Johannesburg which prevented him from taking much further part in the game and also ruled him out of the second Test. He returned to play in the deciding third Test at Cape Town and bowled well, taking six wickets for 88 runs in the match as South Africa clinched the match and the series. He finished the series with six wickets at an average of 19.00.Despite his strong performance on his return to the team in the third Test against India, Steyn missed out on a place in the first two Tests against Pakistan, with the selectors opting to play a four-man attack featuring full-time spinner Paul Harris. He returned in the third Test, at Cape Town, when the selectors decided to rest André Nel and Shaun Pollock in preparation for the imminent 2007 Cricket World Cup. He took four wickets in the match for 87 runs as South Africa won the match by 5 wickets and took the series 2–1. As this was his only match, his average for the series was 21.75.Steyn was recalled to the South African ODI squad in June 2007 and played in three matches between June and August, against Ireland, India and Zimbabwe. He had mixed success in these three matches, taking wickets but proving expensive.Steyn was picked for the Test squad to tour Pakistan in October, and played in both Tests. In the first Test at Karachi, during Pakistan's second innings, he picked up his third Test five-wicket haul as Pakistan were bowled out for 263 chasing 424 to win. He had an unremarkable second Test, with the match petering out to a draw, handing South Africa the series 1–0, and finished the series with nine wickets at 24.66. Steyn was by now an established member of the Test team, and he produced his finest series performance to date in the two Test matches against New Zealand in November. In the first Test at Johannesburg he collected his fourth and fifth five-wicket hauls (5/35 and 5/59) and his first ten-wicket match as New Zealand were thrashed by 358 runs, South Africa's biggest victory margin in terms of runs to date. Steyn was also awarded his first Test Man-of-the-Match award. This devastating form continued into the second Test at Centurion where he picked up 4/42 in the first innings and his sixth five-wicket haul (6/49) to help South Africa to victory by an innings and 59 runs. His second ten-wicket match earned him his second Man-of-the-Match award in a row and his series performance of 20 wickets at an average of 9.20 won him his first Man-of-the-Series award. On the back of his performance, he broke into the top five of the ICC rankings for Test bowlers for the first time in his career.He made his Twenty20 International debut on 23 November 2007 in the one-off game against New Zealand, taking the wicket of Scott Styris and only giving up 17 runs from his four overs. He also featured in the third One Day International at Cape Town, where he had partial success, taking the wickets of the New Zealand openers, Brendon McCullum and Lou Vincent, but going for 50 runs from nine overs.Steyn's next international appearance was in the first Twenty20 International against the West Indies. He took the exceptional figures of 4/9 in three overs, with all four wickets being picture perfect yorkers, but was unable to stop the West Indies chasing down the target of 59 runs in a match reduced to 13 overs by rain.Steyn's form continued into the Test series. He had a fairly indifferent match in the first Test at Port Elizabeth, taking 5/188 in the match as the West Indies scored their first away victory in Test matches for two and a half years, although he did hit his highest Test match score to date, 33 not out, in South Africa's second innings. He picked up figures of 4/60 and 4/44 in the second Test at Cape Town as South Africa leveled the series and once again proved his worth in the deciding third Test at Durban by taking 1/18 and 6/72, his seventh five-wicket haul, as the West Indies were thrashed by an innings and 100 runs. His 20 wickets at 19.10. earned him his second consecutive Man-of-the-Series award.He played in the first three matches of the One Day International series, but could not match his Test success and was briefly dropped after failing to take a wicket and going for 62 runs in his ten overs during the third match at Port Elizabeth He was recalled for the fifth match at Johannesburg but struggled again, taking one wicket but going for 78 runs from ten overs.In the first Test of the two match series against Bangladesh, at Dhaka, Steyn helped South Africa avoid an embarrassing defeat. Bangladesh were bowled out for 192 in their first innings, with Steyn claiming 3/27, but then South Africa collapsed to 170 all out, handing the hosts a shock 22 run lead. However Steyn(4/48) then combined with Jacques Kallis (5/30) to restrict Bangladesh to 182 all out and South Africa were able to complete a five wicket victory on the fourth day of the match. South Africa won the second Test at Chittagong comprehensively (by an innings and 205 runs) and Steyn returned figures of 4/66 and 3/35 giving him 14 wickets in the series at an average of 12.57 which won him his third consecutive Man-of-the-Series award. When Steyn dismissed Junaid Siddique in Bangladesh's first innings (his 20th match), he claimed the record for the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Tests, beating Hugh Tayfield's record of 21 matches. He holds the record amongst all players who are currently playing Test cricket.Steyn featured in the final One Day International of the three match series, going wicketless but only giving away 19 runs in 8 overs.
Rise to fame
Reviewed by Untold stories
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June 27, 2020
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