It should be no surprise the world’s leading fast bowler does not do spin but while most sportsmen have been media-trained to within an inch of their lives Dale Steyn is a refreshing exception.
The 32-year-old talks in the plain-speaking, no nonsense manner borne of a man who spent his formative years deep in the South African bush, growing up in Phalaborwa, a small town in the far-north province of Limpopo.
So, amid an honest, candid and expletive-laden interview during which he declared himself fit to lead South Africa’s attack in Durban on Saturday after recovering from a groin injury, there was little shock when Steyn admitted he barely knew any of the players in England’s young, emerging side.
“If you want me to be entirely honest I haven’t actually looked at England’s squad that much,” he says. “I know that sounds really pathetic but I’ve just been trying to go off and get myself back into full fitness which has meant I’ve had to avoid actually focusing on who we’re playing against or what’s coming up.
“I will have a look at it a little bit closer before Durban when we look at the numbers and how long these guys have been playing their cricket, where the strengths and weaknesses are in this England set-up.
“Right now if you want me to be honest I don’t know. I think the more common players who have been around for a while – Joe Root, Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad – those guys I know of, they’re fantastic players. The other guys coming in and making their way in cricket, I don’t know much about them.”
England’s preparations for the four-Test series had, up until news of Anderson’s calf injury broke on Tuesday, gone as well as could possibly be hoped.
South Africa have their own problems, with Vernon Philander, Steyn’s new-ball partner, ruled out of the first and second Tests with an ankle injury. When you factor in the recent 3-0 series defeat in India, South Africa’s first in Tests away from home in nine years, and the uncertainty over their top order, you could argue England are marginal favourites to win the series despite Anderson’s fitness issues.
Yet the one man who punctures that optimism is Steyn. The world’s No1 bowler has declared himself fit not only for the Boxing Day Test but the three that follow after overcoming the groin injury that ruled him out of the final three Tests in India.
Steyn has not played for seven weeks since he pulled up during South Africa’s 108-run defeat at Mohali. He was scheduled to play in his first domestic first-class match for six years last week but it was decided that game, for Cape Cobras, had come too soon.
Instead he passed a rigorous fitness test in Cape Town last Thursday and is ready to be unleashed on England’s batsmen.“I’m feeling good, the ball’s coming out fine so I think the key thing for me is to make sure I can get through between 15 and 20 overs in a day and I think I can do that,” Steyn said.
“There was a four-day game [I could have played] but I didn’t want to risk it, I wanted to give this leg of mine the best opportunity to heal and hopefully I’ll be 100% ready. It’s almost been 11 years of playing international cricket for me – I think I’ll be OK. If I can play the first Test there shouldn’t be any issues playing all four.”
Steyn, with 402 Test wickets, is only 20 short of surpassing Shaun Pollock’s South Africa record. With a fair wind he could pass that mark during the England series, even if he insists he is not concerned with personal landmarks.
“I’ve never chased records,” he says. “I’ve never been bothered about being the highest wicket-taker in the world or the best South African bowler in the world. I’d be happy to step aside right now and not play in the South Africa side if I felt I couldn’t contribute any more. But I feel I can take this team to places where it’s been before and beyond.
“As long as I’ve got that urge and that fight and fire inside of me I’ll continue and records will come and records will be broken. But the day I don’t feel that kind of stuff I’m happy to walk away. It might be next year that I say OK, it’s no longer for me, or it might be in four or five years time but as long as I’m strong and I feel like I can make a contribution I’ll carry on doing it. You still have a bit more shit to write about me.”
Sky Sports will show England’s tour of South Africa as part of a schedule of live sport over the festive season
