Dale Willem Steyn is a former South African professional cricketer who used to be one of the fastest right-handed pace bowlers. Dale Steyn had a nickname of Steyn Gun, he was one of the best fast bowlers of his time. He also received the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year. In 2020, he was named to the ICC Test Team of the Decade.
Personal Information
- Full Name: Dale Willem Steyn
- Born: June 27, 1983
- Age: 39
- Height: 5 ft 10 in (179cm)
- Nationality: South African
- Bowling Style: Right Arm Fast
- Batting Style: Right-handed
Batting Career
Check out Dale Steyn’s batting stats.
| Format | Matches | Inningss | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100s | 50s | 4s | 6s |
| Test | 93 | 119 | 27 | 1251 | 76 | 13.59 | 2825 | 44.28 | 0 | 2 | 124 | 36 |
| ODI | 125 | 51 | 12 | 365 | 60 | 9.35 | 562 | 64.94 | 0 | 1 | 35 | 9 |
| T20I | 47 | 12 | 6 | 21 | 5* | 3.50 | 26 | 80.76 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| FC | 141 | 173 | 40 | 1824 | 82 | 13.71 | 3788 | 48.15 | 0 | 4 | – | – |
| List A | 180 | 69 | 21 | 419 | 60 | 8.72 | 635 | 65.98 | 0 | 1 | – | – |
| T20 | 228 | 71 | 34 | 313 | 27* | 8.45 | 291 | 107.56 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 9 |
Bowling Career
Check out Dale Steyn’s remarkable bowling career.
| Format | Matches | Inningss | Balls | Runs | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 5w | 10w |
| Test | 93 | 171 | 18608 | 10077 | 439 | 7/51 | 11/60 | 22.95 | 3.24 | 42.3 | 26 | 5 |
| ODI | 125 | 124 | 6256 | 5087 | 196 | 6/39 | 6/39 | 25.95 | 4.87 | 31.9 | 3 | 0 |
| T20I | 47 | 47 | 1015 | 1175 | 64 | 4/9 | 4/9 | 18.35 | 6.94 | 15.8 | 0 | 0 |
| FC | 141 | – | 27183 | 14569 | 618 | 8/41 | – | 23.57 | 3.21 | 43.9 | 35 | 7 |
| b | 180 | – | 8844 | 6991 | 284 | 6/39 | 6/39 | 24.61 | 4.74 | 31.1 | 6 | 0 |
| T20 | 228 | 225 | 5065 | 5786 | 263 | 4/9 | 4/9 | 22.00 | 6.85 | 19.2 | 0 | 0 |
Early Career
Dale Steyn started his international Cricket for South Africa in 2004. He was selected for the England tour. Steyn was one of the players who had both pace and swing. His first test wicket was Marcus Trescothick. In the series, he had a total of eight wickets with an average of 52.00. Later that year, he was in the Africa XI to play in the Afro-Asia Cup in 2005/06.
After that, he played against New Zealand, where he completed the series with 16 wickets with an average of 26.00. Though he was promising and his prospect was seen, but South Africa was unable to perform well in the international sector. They lost against Sri Lanka, and Steyn took 3 wickets by giving 129 runs.
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Career Success
Steyn then played against India. In that series, he picked up an injury. He returned in the third and deciding test, where he outperformed by taking six wickets. Then he took four wickets, and South Africa won the series against Pakistan. His average was 21.75. During that time, he was in the team against Ireland, Zimbabwe, and India. Though he took so many wickets, he was expensive.
After that, he went to Pakistan with his team for test series. Pakistan needed 424 runs to win, and Steyn was successful in taking 263 runs for his team, and which led his team to win the series by 1-0. Later, South Africa’s series was against New Zealand when Steyn showed his best performance by taking five wickets two more times and completing his first ten-wicket haul.
He made his Twenty20 debut in 2007, and his first wicket was Scott Styris. His Twenty20 performance made him famous when he took 4 wickets by giving 9 runs against West Indies. Within a couple of years, Steyn wrote his name in golden letters. He was also in the Team of the Tournament in 2011.
Be At The Top
In 2013, South Africa’s test was against New Zealand, and Steyn completed his 300 wickets. And he only took 61 matches to complete 300 wickets. When it comes to South African bowlers, Steyn’s name is taken after Shaun Pollock. His career’s best figure was against Pakistan when he took six wickets and gave only eight runs.
In the second innings, Steyn took five wickets, and South Africa won the match by 211 runs. Many people don’t know that Dale Steyn had a cameo role in the 2014 movie Blended. Steyn showed his tremendous form and class in the IPL, also.
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Final Years
In the Bangladesh tour, Steyn’s performance was good enough that he was on the team for the upcoming match. Steyn completed his 400 test wickets, and he took only 16,634 balls to complete that. He is the fastest bowler to complete 400 wickets. Later that year, Steyn broke his right shoulder bone, and he was ruled out from the squad against Australia in 2016-17.
After coming from the injury, he was in the South African squad to participate in the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy. Later he played in the Ram Slam T20 Challenge, where he represented Titans. After 14 months, he came to play against India and picked his return wicket within 14 balls. Unfortunately, Steyn was injured again, and he was ruled out from the series.
In 2018, Dale Steyn became the joint-highest wicket-taker from South Africa with Shaun Pollock. Then he scored his first half-century. In the same year, Steyn crossed Pollock and became the leading Test wicket-taker. He has a total of 439 wickets. But if you compare his bowled ball, Steyn only took 18,608 balls. With another injury, Steyn announced his retirement.
To Conclude
If Dale Steyn didn’t have to face so many injuries, who knows, he could achieve so much more. He was the ICC Test Player of the Year in 2008, and when it comes to being in the Test Team of the Year by ICC, he was there a total of eight times. There are other notable honours and records that he achieved. Moreover, for cricket fans, faking Steyn’s action was a natural thing to do.
Thank You.
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