Durban - Dale Steyn doesn’t have a lot of time for the ageing process. For the great fast bowler, now 32, it’s something he’s much happier to ignore.
Tell him that he’s approaching the evening of his career and you’re likely to get a cuff around the ear.
Nevertheless, it’s undeniable that over the last year the man from Phalaborwa has felt Father Time tapping him on the shoulder. In November last year, he pulled a groin muscle in India shortly after he’d picked up his 400th wicket in Bangladesh, forcing him out of the final three Tests in the series.
After recovering from that, he promptly injured his shoulder in England’s second innings in the Boxing Day Test at Kingsmead, which sidelined him from the rest of that series. Altogether he’s only played five Tests in the last 20 months and been forced to sit out six of his country’s last eight matches.
Sitting at home clearly hasn’t been fun, but now he’s finally back in harness and set to lead the Proteas’ attack in the first Test against New Zealand in Durban from Friday.
“It’s been very frustrating,” Steyn said during the launch of the Sunfoil Test series this week. “I’ve never struggled with injuries and then, bang, I got a groin strain and then broke my shoulder just after I’d recovered from that. And then people started saying that I was the wrong side of 30 ...”
While the “old man” jibe doesn’t sit easily with him, he recognises that the only way to shut up the doubters is to get onto the field and start taking wickets again.
Steyn is famously indifferent to personal records - he didn’t get excited by his 400th wicket and he refuses to focus on beating Shaun Pollock’s South African record of 421 scalps, now 16 wickets away - but he admitted that, right now, he has consented to set himself a personal goal this season.
“I just want to get through the summer without injury: that would be cool,” he said smiling through gritted teeth.
Steyn looks fit now and answers one of the interminable string of injury questions patiently, saying with a chuckle: “I’m fine, I’m ready to go.”
He has played some cricket in the build-up to the series, albeit with a white rather than a red ball, turning out for Glamorgan in England and the Jamaica Tallawahs in the Caribbean for some T20 games.
He is looking forward to Friday’s match, not just because he’s playing again, but because he’s returning to the format that he loves and respects the most. Realistically, however, he knows he can’t simply floor the accelerator and ignore reality.
“If I’m going to be realistic about it, running in and bowling 145km/h all day when you haven’t done it for a long time is going to be really tough. Objective No 1 is to get through 18 or so overs a day without dropping in pace but being as effective as possible. Perhaps 140km/h will be enough although there will be times when I can rev it up to 145 or maybe 150. But don’t forget there’s somebody like KG (Kagiso Rabada) who can do that now.”
Listening to Steyn talk, it’s clear that the Durban Test will be more about breaking the ice, while the second Test in Centurion the following week should see his pace increase with the added mileage in his legs.
“I’m feeling good and the ball is coming out nicely in the nets. It’s a case of maintaining it for five days, but if you’ve got heart you can do that.”
The toughness of the challenge, for all the pace bowlers, is that this is a unique winter Test and nobody’s quite sure what the conditions will be. “If the wicket is like the nets, it’s going to be F-L-A-T,” he said with a laugh.
South Africa will be languishing in seventh spot on the international Test rankings when the players walk onto the field at Kingsmead, so how does he hope to lead his country back up the standings?
“You get back to No 1 by winning cricket matches. Our guys need to step up. We have the potential. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, we know that. It’s going to be a process of winning matches and series over a period of two to three years.”
Steyn has happy memories of playing the Kiwis. His last Test outing against them was early in 2013 when he grabbed a total of 13 wickets in the two matches that the Proteas won by an innings.
“I like playing against them, I’ve had personal success against them,” he said before recalling a recent minor victory. “I nicked off (Kiwi opener) Martin Guptill in the CPL. Straight away he came up to me and said: I can’t wait to get to South Africa’ and I said: You got it’.”
The Star