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Look Out For Dale Steyn: Kepler Wessels

fineleg

By fineleg
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fineleg Rookie

fineleg

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says K.Wessels. Kepler Wessels, the former South Africa captain, says India will pay the price if they underestimate South Africa in the upcoming Test series. However, he believes South Africa have erred by not opting to play any warm-up matches ahead of the three-Test series. "I think India will make a mistake if they underestimate South Africa," Wessels told Cricinfo. "South Africa have a very good side, especially a good bowling attack. They are playing good, confident cricket and have had a good experience of subcontinental conditions after winning in Pakistan and Bangladesh." Wessels picked Dale Steyn as the chief threat for India and believed he will work well with Morne Morkel to "give the Indian top order something to think about." He was impressed with Steyn's growth as a bowler and in particular, his ability to perform on the subcontinent. "He is a formidable player. He keeps the ball up and swings it at pace. That has helped him to do well in the subcontinent." Nevertheless, he believed India can do the damage if they put pressure on Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith, around whom the South African batting will revolve. "If India can get them out, they can put lots of pressure on South Africa. Neil McKenzie [who opened in the Bangladesh series] has a good technique and will try to occupy the crease and get through the new ball but those two tend to hold the batting lineup. The absence of Shaun Pollock as a batsman will be felt. He was a good player of spin and could have done a good job at No 8." Wessels said the presence of Gary Kirsten, India's coach, and Paddy Upton, the mental conditioning coach, would be a big advantage to India. "Gary and Paddy Upton know the South African players well and will make sure the Indian team is prepared for the opposition. In a professional setup they are obviously going to make use of that knowledge."

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Ram Newbie

Ram

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The quality of our batsman is far far more than most other teams that Steyn has played against and most of our batsman are in good form. In the last 12 tests, our first innings scores have been 201,451,664 , 387, 610,276,616,626, 196, 532, 330, 526 We have scored scored 600+ four times, 450+ seven times, 300+ nine times. We have registered scores of less than 200 only once, which incidentally, was one amongst the two losses of this twelve match sequence. Hearteningly, nine of our batsman have scored a combined fifteen 100s, including ones from all-rounders like Anil Kumble and Irfan Pathan. And I havent even gone to the bowlers yet. So succinctly put, this is by far the purplest of patches for not only the Indian top-order in a long time, but our middle and lower middle order has never been stronger. It will take a lot more than a cricket board chief suffering from a hangover from the night before, blurting out "We will thump Kumble's charges" to beat us this time around. Moving just beyond numbers, apart from just the two losses in this 12 month period, we have missed out narrowly on three victories due to either lack of time left in the test match or an over-defensive approach. Its not like the opposition team just played an entire day out with 7-8 wickets in hand. I reckon its time to take some revenge for the 2000 series loss at home.

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comm_box Newbie

comm_box

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Moving just beyond numbers, apart from just the two losses in this 12 month period, we have missed out narrowly on three victories due to either lack of time left in the test match or an over-defensive approach. Its not like the opposition team just played an entire day out with 7-8 wickets in hand.
You mentioned about missing out narrowly on victories. Then how come you forgot to mention that rain saved the match for India at Lords :haha:.
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steyn.DaleSteyn Newbie

steyn.DaleSteyn

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The only Statistical info of note is that he is the 2nd. Best Striker in the history of the game, and that is for every Test Bowler ever to bowl 2000 or more balls in Tests. Only GA Lohmann of England (1886-1896) have a better Strike rate. GA Lohmann (Eng) 1886-1896 18 3830 1205 112 9/28 15/45 10.75 1.88 34.1 9 5 DW Steyn (SA) 2004-2008 20 3791 2289 105 6/49 10/91 21.80 3.62 36.1 7 2 JJ Ferris (Aus/Eng) 1887-1892 9 2302 775 61 7/37 13/91 12.70 2.01 37.7 6 1 SE Bond (NZ) 2001-2007 17 3079 1769 79 6/51 10/99 22.39 3.44 38.9 4 1 SF Barnes (Eng) 1901-1914 27 7873 3106 189 9/103 17/159 16.43 2.36 41.6 24 7 AEE Vogler (SA) 1906-1911 15 2764 1455 64 7/94 12/181 22.73 3.15 43.1 5 1 Waqar Younis (Pak) 1989-2003 87 16224 8788 373 7/76 13/135 23.56 3.25 43.4 22 5 FR Spofforth (Aus) 1877-1887 18 4185 1731 94 7/44 14/90 18.41 2.48 44.5 7 4 W Barnes (Eng) 1880-1890 21 2289 793 51 6/28 9/81 15.54 2.07 44.8 3 0 J Cowie (NZ) 1937-1949 9 2028 969 45 6/40 10/140 21.53 2.86 45.0 4 1 ***Like he says:" I don't need a fast or slow wicket to bowl on, i do all my work through thee air":nervous:

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Ram Newbie

Ram

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He is in red-hot form and will be tough to handle for sure. However, the Indian batsman got plenty of practice facing quality fast bowling from guys like Lee, Johnson and Clark. I am curious, isnt there some sort of 1-2 day training camp or something before the test series starts ? I hope our batsman arent found out due to lack of match practice in the first test. Keeping that in mind, its good that guys like Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman have been playing the Deodhar trophy.

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Feed Newbie

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Steyn ready to fire South Africa pacer Dale Steyn declared on Monday that he is looking torment the Indian batsmen in the upcoming series with his brand of pace and swing bowling. More... Steyn sets his sight on India Harish Kotian in Chennai March 24, 2008 19:35 IST India's batsmen face another tough test against pace and swing in the upcoming three-Test series when they come up against a South African pace battery that comprises Dale Steyn, Makhaya Ntini [images] and Morne Morkel. Steyn will be the bowler to watch out for. The 24-year-old has shown good form in recent matches, having been named man-of-the-series against New Zealand [images], the West Indies [images] and Bangladesh. His rich haul of form in the last few months has seen him scalp 54 wickets in seven matches for a tally of 105 wickets in 20 Tests overall. On Monday, the firebrand pacer declared he is looking torment the Indian batsmen with his speed and swing. 24steyn.jpg "Once you find the recipe for success it's best to stick to it. So I won't be changing much. It's worked so far, so, hopefully, I can take that form into this Test match and the whole tour," he said. Steyn played two Tests against India and took six wickets in the Cape Town match last January after an injury restricted him to just 10 overs in the first. He revealed that he will be looking to exploit India's weakness against the rising delivery. "The Indians have a good side. We will do our video analysis and find the flaws and weaknesses in their batting and bowl accordingly. I'm not going to look at how good their batsmen are or at a particular batsman; I'm going to bowl to their weaknesses. I'll just take it one batter at a time," he said. India come into the Test series high on confidence after a stupendous performance in Australia that also saw them climb to second in the rankings. They went down 2-1 in the Test series, but stormed back in the one-dayers to win the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series, beating Australia 2-0 in the finals. South Africa are also riding high on confidence after sweeping Bangladesh 2-0. But they arrived for the Test series following controversy over team selection. Pacer Andre Nel [images] was not picked for the India tour to fulfill the team's quota of having six non-white players in the squad, though captain Graeme Smith [images] believes the controversy won't affect his team a bit. The hot and humid conditions in Chennai, which witnessed rain, may make things difficult for the fast bowlers. Steyn said the team could use the pacers in short spells so they can give their best shot every time they come on to bowl. "Depending on the day, you could possibly get in 8-10 overs in a spell. But we'll be looking to keep it short and sharp and keep the bowlers fresh," he said. The right-arm pacer said the experienced players in the team, like Mark Boucher [images] and Graeme Smith, briefed him about the conditions that he will encounter in India. "We've got some good players in the side who have toured the subcontinent a few times. The conditions haven't changed too much. I've toured with Polly [shaun Pollock [images]] in the past, there's Graeme [smith] and we've got Boucher behind the stumps -- who has kept to some of the best bowlers in different conditions. We all talk in the nets. The best people to speak to are probably the batsmen because they can tell you what the most difficult thing to face is. "I'm privileged to have these experienced guys standing at slips or behind the wicket to me and they're shouting something to me in Afrikaans every ball," he said. Steyn's entry into the South African national team was way back in 2004, but he failed to make an impression then. However, in April 2006 he made a strong comeback with a lethal spell of fast bowling against New Zealand in the first Test at Centurion. But it was not until last October that he could stake claim for a place in the team. A nine-wicket haul in the two-Test series against Pakistan followed by 40 wickets in the home series against New Zealand and West Indies proved that Steyn had arrived. South Africa boast of a healthy record in India, having won one series from three trips to the country. They blanked India 2-0 in 1999-00, while losing 1-0 in 2004-05 and 2-1 in 1996-97. After a good showing against minnows Bangladesh last month, Steyn has now set his sights on India, who many believe is one of the most difficult teams to beat at home. "There has been no pressure. That's been the beautiful thing about the season so far. Graeme has never put me under any pressure. I've been given the ball to do a job and I've been fortunate enough to be able to do it. "We have got Morne [Morkel], Makhaya and others who can take five-fors and bowl teams out and I get the freedom to run in and take wickets. I have been given the freedom in this series too, to run in and bowl sharp, short spells and, hopefully, I can carry my form into this series. But if not there are others who can do the job," he said. Asked if the speed gun is the real inspiration for fast bowlers, Steyn replied: "Polly [Pollock] and [Glenn] McGrath have shown that you don't really need to have speed to become the world's best bowler. But it's a good asset to have. Pace is something that doesn't come around too often and India have found some in [ishant] Sharma and we have the potential in guys like Morne and myself." "Again it's where you bowl the ball that counts. It's good to have pace but you have to take what McGrath and Polly did and, hopefully, add a bit of pace to it." he added. Steyn, who is ranked second in the ICC [images] Test ranking for bowlers -- behind Muttiah Muralitharan, will be hoping to have another good series and topple the Sri Lankan ace spinner. But, for now, his main target is getting South Africa off to a winning start in the first Test Chennai, which begins on Wednesday.

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