Hail Dale - It's time to acknowledge that Steyn is among the all-time great fast bowlers

[rkt.india]

There must be a reason why South Africa are knocking teams over for scores normally seen in the first round of a local inter-school tournament. And, in relative terms, finishing matches as quickly. Quite apart from having four batsmen (Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis and AB de Villiers) who might feature in their all time top ten (now there's a list in itself!) they have three bowlers - Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel - who between them take a wicket every seven overs, and are forming a team that threatens to be among the best in recent times (my vote for the last similar trio is Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie). The leader of their attack sends a tingle down the spine of most batsmen and makes spectators sit on the edge of their seats. It is human nature to underrate the present and grossly overrate the past, but if you outlaw that trait, the time has come to place Steyn among the greatest fast bowlers of the game. He's going at over five wickets a Test (323 from 63), averages under 25 (22.67) and takes a wicket in less than 50 balls (40.8). Those numbers for bowling averages and strike rates are acknowledged to be possessed by the best, and if you add another cut-off (25 Tests, to take away the anomaly of one or two great years only), he makes the top ten on any criterion. (In the lists that follow, I looked at bowlers since the Second World War, since the numbers of those who played before then are terribly skewed, almost suggesting that batsmen took a bat along like a senior citizen might a walking stick: only in case of an emergency!) So looking purely at strike rates the hall of fame for fast bowlers has Dale Steyn, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Malcolm Marshall, Allan Donald, Colin Croft, Fred Trueman, Joel Garner, Richard Hadlee and Michael Holding. And if you choose the bowling average as your preferred indicator, the list changes, but only somewhat. Alan Davidson, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Curtly Ambrose, Neil Adcock (perhaps he wasn't mourned as much as he should have been: 104 wickets at 21), Fred Trueman, Glenn McGrath, Allan Donald, Richard Hadlee and Dale Steyn. Only one player who is on both lists is playing today, and he is enriching our game. There are few sights more thrilling in sport than a fast bowler in full flow running in. And thrilling is only one of many words you could use to describe Steyn when he is in rhythm. He doesn't look like a gym addict. Indeed, he is more Daniel Craig than Hulk Hogan - wiry and athletic. As were Brett Lee and Malcolm Marshall. And every time I see him, I am reminded of what Michael Holding told me about fast bowling many years ago. He had asked if he could borrow my t-shirt to do a piece to camera (on-air branding, remember!) and when I expressed surprise that a fast bowler should fit into my t-shirt, he reminded me about how fast bowling was not about size but about rhythm. ("Never wore an 'L', Haasha, never," he laughed.) The days he bowled at his quickest was when he didn't realise he was bowling quick, he said. It is so with Steyn too. Possessed of an action that doesn't place too much strain on him and is easily reproduced, he allows himself to get into an excellent rhythm. And when the ball snakes away from the right-hander at pace, cricket is a game to be enjoyed by everyone but the man at the other end. It is human nature to underrate the present and grossly overrate the past, but if you outlaw that trait, the time has come to place Steyn among the greatest And he wants to bowl fast. They are a bit like fighter pilots, these fast bowlers, looking down at anything that dilutes the thrill. (When asked if he would fly commercial aircraft for several times his salary, my cousin who flew MIGs sneered and said, "Anyone can fly that, even the plane itself.") These guys will sneer too if you ask them to run up and bowl medium pace at three-quarter lengths. It is a more comfortable life, like flying a jetliner, but it isn't them. Many years ago, when Waqar Younis was still a tearaway and one of the great sights in the game, he went to play in England, where the importance of a steady line and length was being impressed on him. "Naw" he said (and he was still shaking his head sideways in the interview, looking back), "I don't do that. I am a fast bowler." Steyn, for all his accuracy, is a fast bowler. It is Philander who does that other job (and mighty well too for South Africa). And it doesn't seem to matter what form of the game Steyn is playing. His over to Richard Levi in the last IPL was, to me, the highlight of the event. The ball came fast, straight, and snaked away from the batsman at the very last minute, with the bat, as often happens in such situations, completely irrelevant. Three hundred and twenty-three wickets don't look as daunting as they might have done when Fred Trueman was huffing and puffing his way to 307. Is 500 possible? Steyn is 30 now, and at a stage when every year matters. South Africa don't play Tests from March to November. Maybe his body will ask questions, maybe he will have to do line and length. Or maybe he will only play for as long as he can bowl fast, for as long as he can be in the cockpit of the fighter jet, and not worry too much about the three-quarter length and about "putting it there" at 132 kph. Till he is doing that, Dale Steyn will be the bowler of his generation.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/603756.html

[prinzo]

:two_thumbs_up:

[vandokkum]

Steyn is the only bowler EVER to be in the list of best averages and best strike rate. At a time when his contemporary "great" bowlers like Zaheer and Anderson average over 30 with strike rates of about 60..

[Ultimate_Game]

Steyn definitely is one of the fast bowling greats :hatsoff:

[ganeshran]

I dont think there is any doubt about that now. Even if he retires tomorrow, Steyn has done enough to be counted among the ATG bowlers. There is daylight between him and Anderson who is the next best seamer. Other ATG bowlers (McGrath, Ambrose, Marshall, Akram, Donald) always had contemporaries who could match up to their skills.

[Cricketics]

Watching his spells in test matches is just fun. After he has bowled first couple of overs, he just keeps getting better. By the time he is bowling his 3 or 4th over, he seems to be in great rhythm and is just about to find an edge of batsman's bat. TOP CLASS BOWLER.. LEGEND

[Old guy]

now its question abt is he best ever? i guess that will depend on how he finishes :D btw why is morkel so underated? if anyone say australian series they will know he on his own was carrying this attack in first 2 games he just is the real unlucky bowler and i have a feeling in next game he is gonna get some wickets :D

[vandokkum]

Morkel is "underrated" because he is not the most consistent bowler out there and because he is in the same bowling lineup as Steyn and Philander

[Old guy]

Morkel is "underrated" because he is not the most consistent bowler out there and because he is in the same bowling lineup as Steyn and Philander

not consistent? he was one of the biggest reason u guys won in australia and england yeah he has not taken wickets in heaps like steyn and philander but that can change in next game.. also forget wickets we have seen many timesn ow how he maintains pressure and gets wickets afterwards like for example wicket of hussey in perth when conditions were getting little better.. i honestly feel he can take wicket any time on any track:dance:

[Vijay.Sharma]

Dale Steyn, along with Malcolm Marshall, Richard Hadlee, and Wasim Akram, is a virtuoso fast bowler of the game. Period.

[ganeshran]

not consistent? he was one of the biggest reason u guys won in australia and england yeah he has not taken wickets in heaps like steyn and philander but that can change in next game.. also forget wickets we have seen many timesn ow how he maintains pressure and gets wickets afterwards like for example wicket of hussey in perth when conditions were getting little better.. i honestly feel he can take wicket any time on any track:dance:

Morkel is a bowler any team would love to have in their lineup, but he still doesn't compare to Steyn But he isnt able to maintain pressure by keeping the offstump line that Philander and Steyn are able to. Every over of his has a hit-me ball which the good batsmen can capitalize on and not get bogged down. To add that his perennial problem of overstepping.

[rkt.india]

Morkel is a bowler any team would love to have in their lineup, but he still doesn't compare to Steyn But he isnt able to maintain pressure by keeping the offstump line that Philander and Steyn are able to. Every over of his has a hit-me ball which the good batsmen can capitalize on and not get bogged down. To add that his perennial problem of overstepping.

I dont think he gives too many hit me balls, but his problem is consistency of length as he can be short at times. His length is such that he beats the bat a lot as he gets a lot of bounce batsmen are not even able to edge most of them while Philander and Steyn usually get those edges which elude him.

[ganeshran]

I dont think he gives too many hit me balls' date=' but his problem is consistency of length as he can be short at times. His length is such that he beats the bat a lot as he gets a lot of bounce batsmen are not even able to edge most of them while Philander and Steyn usually get those edges which elude him.[/quote'] By hit-me balls, I don't mean half volleys but bowling on the pads. Any decent batsmen would not leave such a delivery. Plus with 3 slips, a gully, a point and a midoff the on side is not that well protected and ends up going for runs releasing the pressure.

[Old guy]

I dont think he gives too many hit me balls' date=' but his problem is consistency of length as he can be short at times. His length is such that he beats the bat a lot as he gets a lot of bounce batsmen are not even able to edge most of them while Philander and Steyn usually get those edges which elude him.[/quote'] i agree its the length its bit short to get edges when ball movies it just beats the batsman and never takes edge but its also the case of other guys taking too many wickets and nothing is left for him :giggle: it happened to steyn too last season

[rkt.india]

By hit-me balls' date=' I don't mean half volleys but bowling on the pads. Any decent batsmen would not leave such a delivery. Plus with 3 slips, a gully, a point and a midoff the on side is not that well protected and ends up going for runs releasing the pressure.[/quote'] Even Dale Steyn bowls such deliveries too. He also goes for runs in tests. His ER in tests is 3.33 which is on a higher side that is the reason despite an SR for 40, he has a higher average than most of ATGs, Morkel 's ER is 3.26, but the thing is Steyn's most good deliveries will get edges, Morkel's will beat edges.

[Old guy]

morkel and steyn both are used for attacking so going for some runs is not big deal for them..they used spinners and other bowlers to block runs.. philander did that job in england ..he dried up runs when he was not picking wickets ..

[Sooda]

I dont think he gives too many hit me balls' date=' but his problem is consistency of length as he can be short at times. His length is such that he beats the bat a lot as he gets a lot of bounce batsmen are not even able to edge most of them while Philander and Steyn usually get those edges which elude him.[/quote'] ...essentially a better version of Ishant?

[rkt.india]

...essentially a better version of Ishant?

Yeah, very much so.

[Marut]

Watcing Steyn bowl is almost as enjoyable as watching Lara or Tendulkar bat. You expect every ball to do something.

[vandokkum]

Watcing Steyn bowl is almost as enjoyable as watching Lara or Tendulkar bat. You expect every ball to do something.

I find Steyn's bowling a lot more enjoyable than watching anyone bat. It's like poetry in motion, that's why I would rather watch Warne bowl for hours than watching a batsman make 1000 runs.