Steyn in race against time to be fit
Unlike most fast bowlers, Dale Steyn seldom gets injured. He prides himself on knowing his body well enough, and taking care of it.
|||Bangalore - Unlike most fast bowlers, Dale Steyn seldom gets injured. He prides himself on knowing his body well enough, and taking care of it as you would a sports car. The engine is always in fine fettle, and he only needs to check the oil every now and then.
“I know this body only has so many balls left at top speed, so I do what I can to look after it,” Steyn said in the build-up to the first Test in Mohali.
So, when he pulled up with a strained groin, he was more frustrated than most, because injury is something that seldom happens to him. The frustration has continued into this week, when Steyn is in a race against time to be fit for Saturday.
As the rest of the side went to the nets on Monday morning, Steyn stayed on the outfield to work on his problem in isolation. A series of short, sharp bursts were set up by physio Brandon Jackson, to see if Steyn was up to it.
Again and again, he ran through the mini obstacle course. No issues. Happy with that progress, he bowled a few balls, then yelled in annoyance. “Too soon,” his body said. “Too soon.”
He cut a steaming figure for the rest of practice, fuming that his body would not heal with the pace that he is known for around the world. Not this week, not this one, of all weeks.
This week, of course, is the occasion of AB de Villiers’s 100th Test match. It is special, in many ways, especially for Steyn, whose rise from Phalaborwa to phenomenon coincided with De Villiers’ own ascension to batting royalty.
While Steyn scythed through batting line-ups around the world, and then put his feet up, De Villiers slayed attacks from those same teams, and then looked to Steyn to finish off the job. In their respective crafts, few match them for consistency and class.
And Steyn, having beaten De Villiers to many a milestone, wants nothing more than to play a full part in his 100th match, starting on Saturday.
“I’ve been very fortunate to be in the same team as him. We are all lucky to have someone like him,” Steyn said recently.
“You know, we have world-class players in our team but he is just a cut above. Especially over the last three years or so, where he really has been in the form of his life.”
Steyn has often been a spectator, on the right side, but there was that one night when he had a brief taste of what bowlers around the world despise. De Villiers, in full flight, took Steyn apart in an IPL contest and Steyn could do nothing but shrug it off.
“Hopefully, another player like him comes around soon for South Africa, because he has been incredible. South Africa has a habit of producing some serious sportsmen, and he is definitely one of those,” Steyn, himself in that serious category, said sincerely.
“It’s been incredible, just to be able to watch the way he goes about things,” Steyn said, about being on the right side of the fireworks.
“I have been very lucky to make my debut at the same time as him and we have been on this journey together for all these years. Hopefully, there are still a few more memories that we can share together,” he said with a smile.
That hope will drive Steyn over the next few days. To say he is desperate to get South Africa back in the series would be to state the obvious. Steyn lives for the pressure cooker of Test cricket, regardless of location.
But, to say that he is even more eager to stand next to the legend in Port Elizabeth against the Poms, the man who has risen alongside him since 2004 when they were both newbies, and grown into the most feared batsman of his generation, wouldn’t be telling the half of it.
This matters, infinitely. - The Star