‘Sh*t, it’s hard … but it felt right’ – Steyn

Dale Steyn would not admit it after play, but the veteran fast bowler busted a gut to try and get his first five-wicket haul in two-and-a-half years on Thursday on the second day of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Kingsmead, bowling a remarkable 10-over spell after lunch on a typically hot Durban day.

Steyn would ultimately end with excellent figures of four for 48 in 20 overs, Sri Lanka’s tailenders bravely denying him the 27^th five-wicket haul of his career, but his spell after lunch – hostile, fast and economical – answered any lingering questions over his fitness and long-term future.

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The 35-year-old was understandably pleased with his efforts.

“There’ve only been about three times I’ve bowled a 10-over spell before, shit it’s hard, but I felt the wicket was right there once we were bowling to the tail and I wasn’t really going for any runs. I decided to keep going until the captain had enough. It felt like the ball was popping up all over the place and something was going to happen any moment. But Test cricket is hard and five-fors don’t come easy.

“But when you haven’t played for two years, it’s just a blessing to be playing again. I’m really enjoying doing a lot of bowling, it’s fun and you just don’t want to take the easy options. Two years ago, I would have had an answer as to when the end was, but now I don’t know. I worked extremely hard to get back into the team and now it’s fun to be here taking wickets,” Steyn said.

This is not to imply that Steyn, who also moved into joint seventh position with Stuart Broad in the all-time wicket-taker’s list on 437, going past Rangana Herath and Kapil Dev, was in any way putting individual interests above the team’s. The tenuous match situation, with South Africa leading by 170 runs with six wickets remaining, was uppermost in his mind.

“The pitch dictates a lot, it’s quite slow but there are wickets in there, there were periods when wickets would go quickly and at other times there would be partnerships. And you have to hand it to Sri Lanka, they took a couple on the head but they never gave it away, they gutsed it out. We’re taking a little while to get back into Test cricket.

“So it’s important that we rock up tomorrow, that old cliché about partnerships is crucial, and we need to be hard on ourselves. We were good this morning but we need to bring our A-game tomorrow because the third day is always very crucial. It starts with a good partnership tomorrow and then we just have to hang in there,” Steyn said.

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