Ken Borland

Dale Steyn believes Kagiso Rabada is “our best player, the leader of the attack”, but South Africa’s most prolific wicket-taker is still sure the Proteas can win the first Test against England starting at Lord’s on Wednesday even without their spearhead.

Rabada is apparently making good progress after an ankle injury, and while he is bowling again, there is still some concern over whether his workloads have been enough to get him through five days of Test cricket.

“KG is the leader of our attack, our best player and most experienced bowler,” Steyn told The Citizen. “Obviously we want him out on the park, KG gets wickets even when he’s not bowling because batsmen play our other bowlers differently.

“KG just has that presence and x-factor, but I’m certain we can still win without him. Other guys will have to step up, but the Duke ball does enough for us.

“If we are going all-out attack then Anrich Nortje has the pace and he can be used in short bursts to really attack. But for me, our most consistent bowler is Lungi Ngidi.

“The two best bowlers in England for years and years have been Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. They don’t have the speed to scare anybody, but they use the ball so well, they have incredible skills and they know how to use the pitches.

“Lungi is straight in between those two in terms of skills and getting bounce,” Steyn said.

According to Steyn, South Africa have another trump card who also might not take the field at Lord’s in Simon Harmer. The off-spinner arrived in England five years ago on a Kolpak deal and has become a much beloved player for Essex, taking 354 wickets in just 73 matches at an average of only 20.65, leading them to a handful of trophies and being widely acknowledged as the best bowler in county cricket.

“I’m sure our captain, Dean Elgar, is in Simon’s ear having lots of discussions because he has played plenty of county cricket and will provide incredible information on what the pitches will do.

“Simon has done so well there, has played the most county cricket out of anyone in the squad, but whether he gets picked or not will depend on conditions.

“Keshav Maharaj, as a left-armer, provides other options and can hold up an end or take wickets. Normally we play a waiting game, but if England are going to bat so aggressively then we won’t have to be that patient.

“If the wickets are doing something, then England playing with an aggressive mindset will increase our chances of taking wickets. Our fielding will also have to be really good to take the different types of catches that could come,” Steyn said.

South Africa’s two Tests against Bangladesh at the end of the summer were confirmed on Wednesday as being played at Kingsmead and St George’s Park, which is hardly earth-shattering news. But it is the exact same schedule as in February 2019 when the cricket universe was shaken by Sri Lanka’s 2-0 series win.

The first Test in Durban starts on March 31 and the second Test in Port Elizabeth begins on April 8.

Sri Lanka shocked the Proteas at Kingsmead as they chased down 304 thanks to Kusal Perera’s incredible 153 not out and a 78-run last-wicket stand, and then the tourists won by eight wickets in Port Elizabeth to become the first sub-continental team to win a Test series in South Africa.

The series was the last for legendary fast bowler Dale Steyn and he remembers the uncertainty created by conditions that were unfamiliar for the home team but suited the visitors.

“The Port Elizabeth game was my last Test and we were just desperate to try and knock them over,” Steyn told The Citizen on Wednesday. “We were under pressure and that leads to cloudy minds sometimes.

“But that’s what happens when conditions are not in your favour at home. I think whenever we host a subcontinent team, you kind of want to play them on the Highveld, where there is bounce and seam movement.

“Those are unfamiliar conditions for them and you want to take them out of their comfort zone. But the conditions at Kingsmead and St George’s Park will even things out a bit because Bangladesh will be good on slower pitches.

“Maybe it’s because the Test matches won’t go as long as at SuperSport Park for instance. It will make things a bit more difficult for us, but I still think we well have enough to knock them over,” Steyn said.

One good thing about playing on the coast is that the pitches should be easier for the Proteas batsmen to shine on after a long period when they have not been able to advertise their real abilities at home due to a succession of tough surfaces to bat on.

“The batsmen had a rough time against India, although Dean Elgar was fantastic and Keegan Petersen was phenomenal. And now New Zealand will have seam and swing, if not so much pace and bounce,” Steyn said.

“So conditions should be a little bit more in favour of the batsmen against Bangladesh and our guys will be stoked with that.

“I still think we have a fantastic team, especially if we have our full seam attack with Anrich Nortje and Kagiso Rabada.”

The last time South Africa won a Test at Newlands was in January 2019 when they beat Pakistan by nine wickets. It’s not that long ago, but there is nevertheless a feeling of nostalgia for a side that included such great names as Steyn, Philander, Amla, Du Plessis and De Kock.

The Proteas need 111 runs with eight wickets in hand on Friday morning to beat India and win the series against the world’s No.1 ranked side, so the current team certainly must have something going for them as well.

A much-criticised batting line-up will have earned themselves massive respect if they chase down targets of more than 200 in the fourth innings two weeks in a row; the new-look Proteas bowling attack has already shown that they are a force to be reckoned with.

Lungi Ngidi has played a key role in that attack in this series and he was at the forefront at Newlands on Thursday as he spearheaded a fightback after lunch that saw South Africa reduce India from 152/4 to 198 all out. Ngidi took 3/12 in a seven-over spell, including the key wicket of Virat Kohli, splendidly caught in the slips by a leaping Aiden Markram, for 29 to set the collapse in motion.

“From the first Test, the team has been using the sort of language that there are going to be moments when someone has to put up their hand,” Ngidi said. “We don’t have superstars but we have good players and cricketing brains.

“This time it was my session and for me the important thing was to make sure I cashed in. I did decently in the West Indies as well, but against this calibre of players this is definitely one of my best series ever.

“I’m also very proud of Marco Jansen [19.3-6-36-4], he just wants to do well for the team. He has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water and he has a very bright future,” Ngidi said.

South Africa’s batting line-up have had many disappointing performances of late, but they are still in position to complete a remarkable series victory on the fourth day. Much will depend on rookie Keegan Petersen, who is on the brink of his third half-century in four innings as he went to stumps on 48 not out.

India’s stellar attack are going to push them all the way though and the pitch is going to offer enough assistance to still make it a fraught run-chase.

“The ball has been doing something this entire Test series and there are patches on this pitch that if the ball hits them, it does something more,” Ngidi said.

“It’s going to require patience, but we’ve seen from Rishabh Pant that you can score a hundred and there have also been a couple of seventies. So with the right application you can score runs.

“But if the bowlers hit the right areas then they can also take wickets. So it’s a good pitch – everyone is in the game and bat and ball are well-matched.

“If we can have a sixty-run partnership early tomorrow [Friday] then that will put us in position, but if they get early wickets then they are back in the game. It is very well poised,” Ngidi said.

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.