Thank you Dale Steyn!!!

Seam, swing, pace, and bounce!!!

He had it all. He could use all these facets together in a way no way else could. As Dale Steyn calls it a day in his career, let’s looks at some stats of him that show why he was so loved by the cricket community.

The 38-year-old made an announcement on his Twitter account with the following poem,

“And it’s been a long December and there’s reason
to believe

Maybe this year will be better than the last

I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell my
myself

To hold on to these moments as they pass.”

He added further, “It’s been 20 years of training, matches, travel, wins, losses, strapped feet, jet lag, joy, and brotherhood. There are too many memories to tell. Too many faces to thank. So I left it to the experts, to sum up, my favorite band, the Counting Crows. Today | officially retire from the game I love the most. Bittersweet but grateful. Thank you to everyone, from family to teammates, journalists to fans, it’s been an incredible journey together.

Numbers Game

With 439 wickets from 93 test matches, Dale Steyn has the most number of wickets for any South African bowler. Also, Dale Steyn has the bowling strike rate among all the bowlers with more than 250 test wickets. Dale Steyn picked wickets at a strike rate of 42.4 which translates into a wicket every seven overs. He indeed was a beast at his job. Steyn picked his 400th wicket in Bangladesh which was a fitting moment for him. Because all other pacers of the world dreaded the mention of subcontinent pitches because they were flat, dry, and also due to the heat in the air. That is why Steyn’s record of 92 wickets in subcontinent conditions is the most by any pacer in the history of the game.

Such was his dominance that he could create magic on the flattest of tracks. His career-best performance of 10/108 in Nagpur against India was a display of fierce bowling. Another remarkable spell of Steyn came in Ahmedabad when he bundled out the Indian batting lineup before lunch. His figures read 8-2-23-5. India was all out for a mere total of 76 runs in that innings.

Match situations rarely mattered to Dale Steyn.It could be a Day 1 pitch or a 4th innings pitch, the game might be happening in Asia or in New Zealand but Steyn kept terrifying the batsmen.

The following numbers are a testament to how good a bowler Dale Steyn was.