Oppo Camp Dale Steyn retires from test cricket

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peternorth

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And will be focussing on the short and shortest formats of the game.
Dale was respected by the Australians because they felt he is the closest thing to an Aussie with Protea blood.
Join me in congratulating Dale on a fine test career.
 
Congrats to one of the top tier fast bowlers in the history of the sport for a great career. Hope he can go big with the cash in the T20 leagues now, and hopefully the BBL can snag him. Last of the South African side that was unlucky to not be best in the world in the 00's

At the risk of coming across as salty af I think he would be remembered more in the vein of McGrath by opposition supporters if he was an Aussie rather than as the celebrated 'passionate' competitor he is as a South African.
 

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Richard Pryor said:
Congrats to one of the top tier fast bowlers in the history of the sport for a great career. Hope he can go big with the cash in the T20 leagues now, and hopefully the BBL can snag him. Last of the South African side that was unlucky to not be best in the world in the 00's

At the risk of coming across as salty af I think he would be remembered more in the vein of McGrath by opposition supporters if he was an Aussie rather than as the celebrated 'passionate' competitor he is as a South African.
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To be fair between 2007-2015 they were comfortably the best overall.

I think his onfield demeanour was similar to someone like McGrath though he smiled a lot more.
He wasn’t prone to things like the 5-0 predictions etc though either.

Pips McGrath and Ambrose as the best quick I’ve seen. Rabada May pass him who knows. But f*** me what a player.

Basically James Anderson except 15km quicker and could perform in asia.

Privilege to watch him
 
Aside from Johnson’s ashes maybe, I’ve never seen a player have the opposition so a) clueless and b) s**t scared as he did against New Zealand in 2007-08 when he grabbed 20 wickets at 9. That was rare fury at the crease.

I think what a lot of Aussies admired about him was that in addition to his speed and aggression and skill, he had that sort of heart-of-a-lion attitude that earns respect. A lot of otherwise quality opposition bowlers lose points to Aussie fans because they wilt. He never did.
 
Along with Shoaib Akhtar, Steyn is the kind of player I would pay specifically to go and watch. He was everything an old-school tearaway quick should be: ******* fast, aggressive, nasty and baying for blood. But same time likeable and not a jerk.
 
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Bedi said:
Along with Shoaib Akhtar, Steyn is the kind of player I would pay specifically to go and watch. He was everything an old-school tearaway quick should be: ******* fast, aggressive and seeking blood. But same time likeable and not a jerk.
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Huh? He was a bit of a jerk. That's what made him so watchable and what an absolute pleasure it was to watch this bloke bowl. A combination of skill and aggression that we may never have seen before. Him bowling anywhere but specifically in South Africa in that 2010-2016 period was must watch for any serious cricket fan.
 
corbies said:
Huh? He was a bit of a jerk. That's what made him so watchable and what an absolute pleasure it was to watch this bloke bowl. A combination of skill and aggression that we may never have seen before. Him bowling anywhere but specifically in South Africa in that 2010-2016 period was must watch for any serious cricket fan.
Click to expand...

He definitely wasn’t a jerk off the field, I think he trod the line fairly closely on it. He was never shy of a word to batsmen, but he would also regularly smile at them and issue that sort of ‘I know I’ve got you f***ed here mate’ sort of grin and I found that a bit endearing.

There’s not many bowlers I’d pay to watch - I’m a batsman fan first - but along with Ambrose, Warne, Donald and Shoaib he was definitely one of them
 

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PhatBoy said:
He definitely wasn’t a jerk off the field, I think he trod the line fairly closely on it. He was never shy of a word to batsmen, but he would also regularly smile at them and issue that sort of ‘I know I’ve got you f***ed here mate’ sort of grin and I found that a bit endearing.

There’s not many bowlers I’d pay to watch - I’m a batsman fan first - but along with Ambrose, Warne, Donald and Shoaib he was definitely one of them
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He was a bit of a dick on occasion but that's okay, he's a fast bowler it's part of what made him so good. He's one of if not the best I've seen at identifying a batsman's weakness whether it be technical or mental and systematically pulling it apart.
 
Woody15 said:
Amazing bowler. One of my all time favourites. Sad day for test cricket.

Who remembers Steyn v Tendulkar in 2011 - last test in Cape Town? Test cricket doesn't get much better than that.
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Wow what a battle!!!
Just looked up some of the articles from that innings. 2-13 off 11 in those two spells to start the first two sessions. That was a bowler at his absolute zenith, in that rare sphere where they are simply too good to pick up wickets. Batsmen couldn’t hit him.
 
He's easily the best all-round fast bowler that I've seen. He had the skill of Anderson, the consistency of McGrath and the aura of Johnson at his pomp. The perfect fast bowler.
 
PhatBoy said:
Wow what a battle!!!
Just looked up some of the articles from that innings. 2-13 off 11 in those two spells to start the first two sessions. That was a bowler at his absolute zenith, in that rare sphere where they are simply too good to pick up wickets. Batsmen couldn’t hit him.
Click to expand...
He was unplayable which goes to show how good Tendulkar was. Could have had him out numerous times. Balls moving both ways. Incredible.

Ive tried hard to find extended highlights of that innings over the years but failed - BCCI copyright perhaps? Id even buy the whole test if I could somehow. Anyone know where to get such a thing should it exist?

PhatBoy said:
There’s not many bowlers I’d pay to watch - I’m a batsman fan first - but along with Ambrose, Warne, Donald and Shoaib he was definitely one of them
Click to expand...

Id have the same 5 without a doubt.

I like my bowlers to have just the right amount of mongrel and Steyn had that for me.
 
Woody15 said:
He was unplayable which goes to show how good Tendulkar was. Could have had him out numerous times. Balls moving both ways. Incredible.

Ive tried hard to find extended highlights of that innings over the years but failed - BCCI copyright perhaps? Id even buy the whole test if I could somehow. Anyone know where to get such a thing should it exist?



Id have the same 5 without a doubt.

I like my bowlers to have just the right amount of mongrel and Steyn had that for me.
Click to expand...

Same. At his peak in the right conditions I’d add a left field one - Mohammad Asif. The man was as close to an artist as I’ve seen with a cricket ball bowling anything other than spin. But lacked the high octain factor of the others.
 
corbies said:
Huh? He was a bit of a jerk. That's what made him so watchable and what an absolute pleasure it was to watch this bloke bowl. A combination of skill and aggression that we may never have seen before. Him bowling anywhere but specifically in South Africa in that 2010-2016 period was must watch for any serious cricket fan.
Click to expand...
Would be comparable to McGrath in that he was a very angry man onfield, but you get the sense that wasn't his off-field persona. Someone like Rabada or Ambrose you can tell are straight up pricks. Ambrose especially. Remember as a kid he was the only one who refused to sign any autographs
 
SA's finest ever quick?

He could perform on all surfaces in all countries if he wanted.

He had command of the outswinger, he could use reverse swing to run through batsmen on dry/flat pitches and his bouncer was surprisingly vicious for someone of his height.
 
DaRick said:
SA's finest ever quick?

He could perform on all surfaces in all countries if he wanted.

He had command of the outswinger, he could use reverse swing to run through batsmen on dry/flat pitches and his bouncer was surprisingly vicious for someone of his height.
Click to expand...

Had all of Anderson’s tricks at much higher speed.

Donald was a great but Steyn was better
 
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