Ken Borland

Social media was full of praise this week for the great Dale Steyn following the fast bowler’s retirement from all forms of the game. His opponents from around the world were generous with their tributes, but perhaps the greatest accolade I can pay one of my favourite cricketers is to say he achieved what he set out to do and more.

When I asked Steyn this week how he would like to be remembered, his answer was typically honest and refreshing.

“It’s their decision how people want to remember me. But I wanted to play hard, be a fierce competitor, but also have fun. I wanted to not be slow to be the first person to buy a round of drinks at the end of the game, whether that be beers or soft drinks, because that’s important too. I wanted to meet other people, enjoy their company, and for there to be no animosity,” Steyn said.

The lad from Phalaborwa certainly ticked all those boxes. He was one of the most aggressive and highly-skilled fast bowlers the world has seen, but off the field there was no-one more affable. Dale Steyn was not just a great cricketer, he is a great human being, which is why he is so popular with cricketers, fans and media.

Long-time rival Jimmy Anderson simply described Steyn as “The Best”, while Australia’s Pat Cummins, who inherited Steyn’s mantle as the world’s best paceman, said “Set the standard for fast bowlers world round to follow for 20 years. No better competitor to watch in full flight”. Proteas nemesis Mitchell Johnson said Steyn was “overall the best fast bowler who had it all through my time of playing; fire on the pitch, ripping bloke off it”.

From the raw youngster who arrived at the Titans from unfashionable Limpopo with a skateboard and a shock of blonde hair – he was promptly nicknamed ‘Sunshine’ – and the ability to swing the ball away at high pace, Steyn developed even more skills and also became a tactical genius. Statistics can sometimes be misleading when it comes to the true impact of a player, but Steyn’s are not. The best strike-rate of any bowler who has taken 300 Test wickets and an away average of 24, including on the subcontinent, were prime reasons South Africa became the No.1 Test side.

In fact, it is his performances in India (long considered a graveyard for pace bowlers) that most support his claims to being one of the all-time greats: In six Tests there he took 26 wickets at an average of 21.38. His spell of five for three after tea on the third day of the first Test in Nagpur in 2010 is still spoken about with awe in India; it is arguably the greatest display of reverse-swing bowling ever as the home side crashed from 212 for four to 233 all out, as South Africa won by an innings.

I was fortunate enough to be there and, having just iced one of the strongest batting line-ups in the world, Steyn was typically jovial and relaxed, not wanting to focus on his own performance in the media conference at the end of the day.

The archetypal cool dude embodies all that is great about sport – the competitiveness, the high levels of skill and the determination; but also the acknowledgement that they are playing a game for the joy of it. That same spirit finds expression in the many ‘adventure’ sports Steyn loves and will now have the time to pursue more often.

Many players find it difficult to have a good relationship with the media and they can be forgiven for that. Dale had a fantastic rapport with the media, mostly because he treated them as fellow human beings who also had a job to do, much like the opposition.

He is genuinely interested in people and there were many discussions about the holiday he had just been on, or even the trip you had just taken. I will never forget the genuine concern and advice he gave talking to a media colleague who had undergone shoulder surgery.

Dale Steyn lit up the cricket field, and we can now only wish him many years of fun on his new playgrounds – the sea, bush, jungles and mountains that are waiting for him.

South Africa’s finishers were unable to answer the call as the Proteas slipped to a 14-run defeat in the first ODI against Sri Lanka at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Thursday night.

The Proteas were chasing a daunting 301 for victory, more than any team has achieved to win a match batting second at Sri Lanka’s biggest stadium.

But following a marvellous 96 off 90 balls by opener Aiden Markram and an excellent run-a-ball 59 by Rassie van der Dussen, South Africa needed 41 to win off the last four overs with six wickets in hand. Exactly the sort of match situation in which the finishers are expected to produce the big hits.

But unfortunately Heinrich Klaasen (36 off 31), who had batted well in support of Van der Dussen, and Andile Phehlukwayo (5 off 8) just could not accelerate enough to win the game.

That it all came down to them was partly due to sheer bad luck for the Proteas. Captain Temba Bavuma was well set on 38 not out and the Proteas were cruising as he and Markram had added 106 for the second wicket at pretty much a run-a-ball. But Bavuma was then struck on the hand by a wayward throw by a Sri Lankan fielder and two overs later had to retire hurt.

It was a crucial change in momentum as South Africa needed 146 from 22 overs, with nine wickets in hand and Markram flying, when the skipper left the crease.

When Markram was dismissed three overs later, it meant the visitors had to rebuild and, as well as Van der Dussen did, he lacked enough quality at the other end.

Markram had driven over extra cover superbly all innings, but he was splendidly caught by Wanindu Hasaranga running in from the cover boundary when left-arm spinner Praveen Jayawickrama obtained sharper turn than expected.

A brave effort by the South African top-order was also undone by some friendly, ineffictive bowing by the Proteas seamers.

Between them, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Phehlukwayo conceded 171 runs in 24 overs.

Opener Avishka Fernando punished the wayward bowlers as he anchored the Sri Lankan innings with a brilliantly-paced 118 off 115 balls, adding 79 for the third wicket with Dhananjaya de Silva (44).

The real fireworks came when young Charith Asalanka struck a powerful 71 off 62 balls, adding 97 in 12 overs with Avishka.

The spinners bowled well for South Africa with Keshav Maharaj outstanding with two for 30 in his 10 overs.

The Proteas enter an ODI series in Sri Lanka on Thursday and once again there is a mass of expectation on their shoulders as they look to not only win on the field but somehow also win over the hearts of the many people who are deeply dismayed by what has been going on in South African cricket lately.

One can sympathise with captain Temba Bavuma as he looks to juggle all these demands that range from socio-economic issues that plague the country as a whole to how to deal with turning pitches on the subcontinent.

South Africa’s struggles with that are well-known and they have not won an ODI series since beating Australia 18 months ago, which means they are currently outside the top eight in the race to pre-qualify for the next World Cup. And they have not won an ODI series overseas in nearly three years – again it was Australia who succumbed to the Proteas, in November 2018.

“It seems these days whenever we play there’s always something brought up that we haven’t done,” Bavuma lamented on Wednesday. “Our main aim is to win series, to try and accumulate as many points as we can to qualify for the 50-over World Cup, and we are here in foreign conditions and we don’t focus on the past, but we do learn from it. I’ve only been in this role for two series – against Pakistan and the Ireland series that was affected by the weather.

“We still have a lot to overcome as a team, there’s the stuff going on behind closed doors, but our responsibility is to make sure that what we do on the field meets a certain standard. Winning is where our minds are at and our conversations are largely centred around how we can play our best cricket. We don’t need to get involved in external matters,” Bavuma said.

The Proteas are also missing key players in Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Lungi Ngidi. The absence of De Kock means either Aiden Markram or Reeza Hendricks will open the batting with Janneman Malan, with Heinrich Klaasen or Kyle Verreynne taking the gloves; both could play as they did in South Africa’s last ODI, a thumping 70-run win over Ireland that levelled the series.

But there are also empty chairs to be filled in the management room with bowling coach Charl Langeveldt not able to travel due to Covid quarantine and assistant coach Enoch Nkwe having resigned.

“It’s our first tour without Enoch and it’s quite a big loss, especially on the tactical and strategic side. He was a good sounding board for me, someone I could test my ideas with, and we had experience of working together at domestic level. But life goes on and there’s not much we can do about it. As far as his reasons go, as a team we have not heard from Enoch himself.

“There has been a lot of speculation, but I’m sure he’s rooting for us. For it to be said there was something wrong with our team culture and environment, makes me feel … I haven’t had the opportunity for a formal discussion with him, so I would like to sit down and unpack it all with him, hear from him first. I will take what he says on board and discuss it amongst the team,” Bavuma said.

“You can’t get away with much here,” Proteas paceman Beuran Hendricks said on Tuesday after their training session at the Premadasa Stadium in Colombo, where their limited-overs series against Sri Lanka starts on Thursday with the first of three ODIs.

“I’ve played in these conditions before so I have an idea what to expect, but here it might be a bit slower and have less bounce. That’s the main difference for us seamers, we can control our lines wherever, but your lengths are utterly important here and we are training accordingly. Back home on the Highveld you can afford to bowl a touch fuller because there is that extra bounce.

“But here is like bowling on the coast at home, you have to be that half-a-metre shorter. You can’t get away with much here and we’ve been topping up our skills because the execution of those skills needs to be spot-on. Sri Lanka are a good outfit and they are in their home conditions so we can’t take anything for granted. We need to adapt to the conditions,” the left-armer said.

The 31-year-old Hendricks first played for the Proteas in 2014, but his career has enjoyed a renaissance over the last couple of years since he moved from the Cape to play for the Highveld Lions. One of his team-mates with the franchise was all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, another of the more skilful bowlers in the national squad, and the man responsible for the big black eye Hendricks was sporting on Tuesday.

“It was Day One in camp and everyone was excited and doing their skills. I had just finished bowling in the middle and I went to the nets to throw a bit to Dwaine. He was clearly very excited too, and we all know he hits the ball very hard, because I landed one a bit too full and wide, and he smashed it back at me, it burst through my fingers and into my eye.

“I went down, but I felt okay and there was no dizziness and I passed a concussion test. Luckily it did not hit me too hard, but I still needed eight stitches, which was a bummer for the first day back. I’ve had to come back slowly to make sure the eye doesn’t burst open again, and it feels weird, it’s the first time I’ve had stitches. My perfect record is over, so thanks Dwaine!” Hendricks laughed.