James Anderson vs Dale Steyn (part 2)

(Please refer to part 1 of the article for a take on James Anderson‘s bowling and introduction)

Brief overview of Steyn’s career

Dale Steyn took the cricketing world by storm with a rip-snorter of a delivery that swung late, and away, to detonate the stumps of England’s Michael Vaughan at Port Elizabeth in 04/05 in his debut Test. But just like most other cricketers, he too had his fair share of ups and downs. In that series against England in 04/05, Trescothick went hammer and tongs after Steyn in the fourth Test at the Wanderers. In a one-day game played against Australia in 05/06, Phil Jacques took a liking to his bowling, and smashed him to smithereens.

Worse was to come, as in ’06, the Sri Lankans sent Steyn and company on a leather hunt by amassing 736 for 5 in a Test match in Colombo. They took a special liking to Steyn’s bowling too. At the end of that Test match, Steyn had taken 27 wickets at a cost of 35.59. But South Africa’s think-tank had the vision of him being a future strike bowler, and showed immense faith in him.

That faith finally bore fruit, as Steyn ripped open Pakistan’s batting line-up in their own patch in ’07. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength, and is now rightly regarded as a world class bowler. Steyn has come a long way from the days when he had to borrow money from his senior teammate, Pollock, as he didn’t have enough money to buy a pair of shoes. In short, just like a true champion, Steyn has been able to wade through all those swamps and marshes that came his way, and has achieved success as a fast bowler.

Dale Steyn with the new ball

Steyn belongs to the old school of swing bowling, as he keeps it simple. His modus operandi is to mainly concentrate on out-swingers. He may slip in the odd in-swinger, or depends on natural variation off the pitch to outwit the batsman. In the last few years, he has cut down on pace while bowling with the new ball, in an attempt to control swing.

To a left-hander, he naturally curves it back into the batsman, with the out-swinger being his surprise weapon. Last year in England, there was an inkling that Steyn may struggle a bit against England’s left-handed opening pair of Strauss and Cook. But unfortunately for England, South Africa’s think-tank saw through it, and decided to open the bowling with the towering giant, Morne Morkel, from around the wicket.

Dale Steyn with the old ball

When Steyn feels the deck is flat, or he can generate prodigious reverse swing, he ups his pace considerably. As he can consistently bowl at 90mph, Steyn has caused mass destruction by hooping the ball around the corners. With the old ball, Steyn, mainly tails it into a right-handed batsman, his variation being the one that straightens a touch. To make it more deadly for the batsman, Steyn also can slip in a nasty bouncer. He certainly made short work of Pakistan’s batting line-up in ’07 as well as at Nagpur against India in 09/10.

Steyn and his deadly bouncer

Steyn, perhaps, has the nastiest bouncer among present day fast bowlers. Many experts and cricket pundits have compared Steyn’s nasty bouncer to England’s former pacer, John Snow. Steyn’s bouncer is deceptively quick, and it follows the batsman all the time. As a keen cricket observer, I have noticed that Steyn flicks his wrists at the nth moment to get that little bit more zip off the surface. Dale Steyn smashing New Zealand’s opener Craig Cumming’s helmet in a Test match in South Africa is a classic example of Steyn’s most potent weapon.