Date of Birth : 27th June 1983
Place of Birth : Phalaborwa, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Height : 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Batting Style : Right-Handed
Bowling Style : Right-Arm Fast
Role : Bowler
Test Debut (cap 297) : 17th December 2004 v England
ODI Debut (cap 82) : 17th August 2005 v Asia XI
Dale Willem Steyn is a South African cricketer who plays in Test and One Day International cricket for South Africa. Dale Steyn is currently the number one ranked Test bowler in the world and achieved the 900+ points benchmark on 13th Nov 2011. Steyn plays domestic cricket in South Africa for Cape Cobras. Dale Steyn is a right-arm fast bowler, and bowls at speeds of around 145–150 km/h (his fastest being recorded at 156.2 km/h during the 2010 IPL, Bangalore Royal Challengers against Kolkata Knight Riders). Steyn holds the record for the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Test Match cricket, a feat he achieved on 2 March 2008. Steyn currently has the third best bowling strike rate of all time in Test match cricket (amongst bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 2500 deliveries), behind George Lohmann and Shane Bond. Dale Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at the world class average of 16.24 in Season 2007/08 and was subsequently rewarded with the prestigious ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award.
Playing Style
Steyn is an aggressive out-and-out fast bowler capable of bowling at speeds in excess of 150 km/h. Dale Steyn is capable of generating considerable swing and is usually chosen to bowl with the new ball to maximise these attributes. Dale Steyn has also demonstrated the ability to reverse swing the older ball in a Test match against India in Nagpur in 2010,which South Africa won by an innings and six runs. Steyn is an extremely competitive cricketer and often celebrates vigorously after taking a wicket. Dale Steyn has stated that "(he) love(s) the buzz from bowling fast" and that "(he) want(s) to be the quickest in the world".
Steyn is usually considered a tail-ender when batting and often bats at number ten or eleven. However, he is a capable hitter of the ball and can also occupy the crease if required.
Steyn made his first-class debut for Northerns (subsequently merged with Easterns to form the Titans) on 17 October 2003. Dale Steyn only played two first-class games and made little impact in his first season, but a series of strong performances in the initial part of the 2004/2005 season saw him called up to the Test squad to play England. Dale Steyn went back to playing for the Titans after failing to impress in his first three Tests.
Steyn went to England in 2005 to play for Essex, appearing in seven matches between May and June. Dale Steyn failed to make a big impact in his initial outing in County Championship cricket, taking 14 wickets at 59.85. On his return to domestic cricket in South Africa, Steyn bowled excellently for the Titans through the 2005/2006 season which earned him a recall to the Test squad to face New Zealand.
Steyn seized the opportunity to cement his place in the South Africa Test team, and as a result of becoming a regular selection for the national team, he has subsequently played little domestic cricket in South Africa during the last two seasons, appearing for the Titans in just three SuperSport Series matches.
Dale Steyn had a second stint in England, playing for Warwickshire in the first half of the 2007 English season. This time around he had more success, claiming 23 County Championship wickets in seven matches at an average of 25.86. Dale Steyn also played well in the Friends Provident Trophy, a 50-over tournament, finishing as the leading wicket-taker for Warwickshire. Dale Steyn has since become a regular in the South African One Day International team.
Steyn signed to play in the Indian Premier League in 2008, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Dale Steyn earned US$325,000 for his appearance in the tournament. For IPL 2011 he was bought by Deccan Chargers for a whopping 1.3 million $.
Dale Steyn in the field at the SCG in January 2009. Home Tests against England 2004/05 Steyn made his debut for South Africa on 17 December 2004 in the first Test of England's tour. Dale Steyn first victim in Test cricket was Marcus Trescothick whom he bowled with a fast in-swinging delivery. However, his overall performance was underwhelming, he took eight wickets at an average of 52.00 and he was dropped after bowling poorly in England's second innings of the fourth Test in January 2005, bowling eight no balls in nine overs which went for 47 runs. England won the match by 77 runs.
One Day Internationals 2005/06Later that year, Steyn was picked in the squad for the African XI in the Afro-Asia Cup of 2005/06, and he made his One Day International debut on 17 August 2005. The African XI won the match, with Steyn bowling last batsman Ashish Nehra to seal victory by two runs. Steyn made his One Day International debut for South Africa on 20 January 2006 in a match against Australia at Melbourne, a match which was part of the 2005-06 VB Series. Steyn did not bowl particularly well and after another below par performance against Sri Lanka he dropped out of consideration for the South African ODI team.
Home Tests against New Zealand 2005/2006Following a strong season playing domestic cricket for the Titans, Steyn was recalled to the Test side to play New Zealand in April 2006. Dale Steyn responded to his opportunity with his first five-wicket haul in the first Test at Centurion, ripping through the New Zealand batting lineup along with Makhaya Ntini as New Zealand crumbled to 120 all out, chasing 248 to win. Dale Steyn finished the three Test series with 16 wickets at 26.00 and made a fine impression throughout.
Away Tests against Sri Lanka 2006 Steyn was included in the Test team to play Sri Lanka away in a two match series in July and August 2006. In his first overseas Test, at the Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo, he took 3 for 129 as Sri Lanka piled up 756-5, with Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene putting together the highest Test match partnership ever (624 runs). South Africa slumped to defeat by an innings and 153 runs.In the second Test, at the Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu Stadium, Colombo, Steyn took his second five-wicket haul in Tests during Sri Lanka's first innings, but went wicketless in their seconds innings as Sri Lanka sealed a 2-0 series victory by a single wicket. Steyn finished the series with eight wickets at an average of 36.50.
Home Tests against Pakistan 2006/07Despite his strong performance on his return to the team in the third Test against India, Steyn missed out on a place in the first two Tests against Pakistan, with the selectors opting to play a four man attack featuring full-time spinner Paul Harris. Dale Steyn returned in the third Test, at Cape Town, when the selectors decided to rest André Nel and Shaun Pollock in preparation for the imminent 2007 Cricket World Cup. Dale Steyn took four wickets in the match for 87 runs as South Africa won the match by 5 wickets and took the series 2-1. As this was his only match, his average for the series was 21.75.
One Day Internationals 2007 Steyn was recalled to the South African ODI squad in June 2007 and played in three matches between June and August, against Ireland, India and Zimbabwe. Dale Steyn had mixed success in these three matches, taking wickets but proving expensive.
Away Tests against Pakistan 2007/2008 Steyn was picked for the Test squad to tour Pakistan in October, and played in both Tests. In the first Test at Karachi, during Pakistan's second innings, he picked up his third Test five-wicket haul as Pakistan were bowled out for 263 chasing 424 to win. Dale Steyn had an unremarkable second Test, with the match petering out to a draw, handing South Africa the series 1-0, and finished the series with nine wickets at 24.66.
Home Tests, ODIs and T20 against New Zealand 2007/2008 Steyn was by now an established member of the Test team, and he produced his finest series performance to date in the two Test matches against New Zealand in November. In the first Test at Johannesburg he collected his fourth and fifth five-wicket hauls (5/35 and 5/59) and his first ten-wicket match as New Zealand were thrashed by 358 runs, South Africa's biggest victory margin in terms of runs to date. Steyn was also awarded his first Test Man-of-the-Match award. This devastating form continued into the second Test at Centurion where he picked up 4/42 in the first innings and his sixth five-wicket haul (6/49) to help South Africa to victory by an innings and 59 runs. Dale Steyn second ten-wicket match earned him his second Man-of-the-Match award in a row and his series performance of 20 wickets at an average of 9.20 won him his first Man-of-the-Series award. On the back of his performance, he broke into the top five of the ICC rankings for Test bowlers for the first time in his career.
Dale Steyn made his Twenty20 International debut on 23 November 2007 in the one-off game against New Zealand, taking the wicket of Scott Styris and only giving up 17 runs from his four overs. Dale Steyn also featured in the third One Day International at Cape Town, where he had partial success, taking the wickets of the New Zealand openers, Brendon McCullum and Lou Vincent, but going for 50 runs from nine overs.
Home Tests, ODIs and T20 against West Indies 2007/2008 Steyn's next international appearance was in the first Twenty20 International against the West Indies. Dale Steyn took the exceptional figures of 4/9 in three overs, with all four wickets being picture perfect yorkers, but was unable to stop the West Indies chasing down the target of 59 runs in a match reduced to 13 overs by rain.
Dale Steyn played in the first three matches of the One Day International series, but could not match his Test success and was briefly dropped after failing to take a wicket and going for 62 runs in his ten overs during the third match at Port Elizabeth. Dale Steyn was recalled for the fifth match at Johannesburg but struggled again, taking one wicket but going for 78 runs from ten overs.
Away Tests and ODIs against Bangladesh 2007/08In the first Test of the two match series against Bangladesh, at Dhaka, Steyn helped South Africa avoid an embarrassing defeat. Bangladesh were bowled out for 192 in their first innings, with Steyn claiming 3/27, but then South Africa collapsed to 170 all out, handing the hosts a shock 22 run lead. However Steyn (4/48) then combined with Jacques Kallis (5/30) to restrict Bangladesh to 182 all out and South Africa were able to complete a five wicket victory on the fourth day of the match. South Africa won the second Test at Chittagong comprehensively (by an innings and 205 runs) and Steyn returned figures of 4/66 and 3/35 giving him 14 wickets in the series at an average of 12.57 which won him his third consecutive Man-of-the-Series award. When Steyn dismissed Junaid Siddique in Bangladesh's first innings (his 20th match), he claimed the record for the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Tests, beating Hugh Tayfield's record of 21 matches. Dale Steyn holds the record amongst all players who are currently playing Test cricket.
Steyn featured in the final One Day International of the three match series, going wicketless but only giving away 19 runs in 8 overs.
The first Test at Chennai turned out to be a very high scoring affair, with South Africa batting first and making 540, then India responding strongly, led by Virender Sehwag who scored 319 from 304 balls, to reach 468/1 by the end of the third day. On the fourth day Steyn helped to restrict India's lead to 87 runs by dismissing MS Dhoni with a bouncer then blasting through the lower order, taking three wickets in two overs for the cost of two runs, all bowled with reverse swinging deliveries. Dale Steyn finished the innings, and the match which petered out into a tame draw, with four wickets for 103 runs.On the morning of the second Test at Ahmedabad, South Africa demolished the much vaunted Indian batting line within twenty overs, for the meagre total of 76 runs. Steyn was the pick of the bowlers taking five wickets for 23 runs, dismissing Sehwag and Rahul Dravid then mopping up the last three batsmen for the cost of 11 runs. In the second innings he added a further three wickets to his match tally, finishing the game with eight wickets for 114 runs, as South Africa completed a crushing victory by an innings and 90 runs. The final Test at Kanpur saw Steyn pick up three first innings wickets which took him to 15 wickets in the series at an average of 20.20. As a result of this, the cumulation of an outstanding 2007/08 season in which he took 75 wickets in 11 matches, Steyn moved up to joint first place (alongside Muttiah Muralitharan) in the ICC Test match bowling rankings
Away Tests against Australia 2008/2009
Steyn fields a ball at practice, Adelaide Oval, January 2009.In the 2nd Test match in a 3 match series, Steyn was involved in a record 9th wicket partnership of 180 with J.P. Duminy. Steyn recorded a score of 76 (191 deliveries) in an innings that helped South Africa recover from 6-141 to post a score of 459. Steyn also starred in the first innings with figures of 5-87 (29.0 overs).In the second innings Steyn returned figures of 5-67 (20.2 overs) and helped South Africa to restrict the Australians to 247 giving the hosts a lead of 183. Steyn now has match figures of 10-154. This is the third time that he has taken 10 wickets in a match in his test career. South Africa duly completed the chase with nine wickets in hand, giving them a 2–0 series lead and their first ever Test series win in Australia. It was also Australia's first home series defeat in 16 years. Steyn was named man of the match for this performance. Steyn made a rearguard effort in attempting to prevent an Australian victory in the 3rd Test in Sydney frustrating the hosts with 28 runs in 65 balls in a 50 run partnership from 105 balls with Makhaya Ntini in order to try to secure the draw. However, when he was out with 50 balls to go, injured captain Graeme Smith came in with a broken hand in an attempt to hold out. Smith was eventually bowled out by Mitchell Johnson with ten balls to go.
ICC World Cup 2011
Dale Steyn got career best ODI figures of 5 wickets for 50 runs against India in Nagpur during the Cricket World Cup 2011. India had a good start to their batting innings but could not maintain their momentum, in the process losing their final 9 wickets for just 29 runs. Steyn played a vital role in the derailment of a strong Indian batting line-up.
IPL Auction 2011
Dale Steyn was one of the players to go for a over a million dollars in the auction for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League. Dale Steyn was bought by the Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million.
Achievements and Records
Test Five-Wicket Innings
Number Figures Match Against City/Country Venue Season
1 5/47 4 New Zealand Centurion, South Africa SuperSport Park 2005/06
2 5/82 8 Sri Lanka Colombo, Sri Lanka P Saravanamuttu Stadium 2006
3 5/56 12 Pakistan Karachi, Pakistan National Stadium 2006/07
4 5/34 14 New Zealand Johannesburg, South Africa New Wanderers Stadium 2007/08
5 5/59 14 New Zealand Johannesburg, South Africa New Wanderers Stadium 2007/08
6 6/49 15 New Zealand Centurion, South Africa SuperSport Park 2007/08
7 6/72 18 West Indies Durban, South Africa Kingsmead 2007/08
8 5/23 22 India Ahmedabad, India Ahmedabad 2007/08
9 5/63 25 Bangladesh Bloemfontein, South Africa OUTsurance Oval 2008/09
10 5/87 28 Australia Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground 2008/09
11 5/67 28 Australia Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground 2008/09
12 5/51 35 England Johannesburg, South Africa New Wanderers Stadium 2009/10
13 7/51 37 India Nagpur, India Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium 2009/10
14 5/29 38 West Indies Port of Spain, West Indies Queen's Park Oval 2010
15 6/50 45 India Durban, South Africa Kingsmead 2010/11
16 5/75 46 India Cape Town, South Africa Sahara Park Newlands 2010/11
Number Match Figures Match Against City/Country Venue Season
1 10/93 14 New Zealand Johannesburg, South Africa New Wanderers Stadium 2007/08
2 10/91 15 New Zealand Centurion, South Africa SuperSport Park 2007/08
3 10/154 28 Australia Melbourne, Australia Melbourne Cricket Ground 2008/09
4 10/108 37 India Nagpur, India Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium 2009/10
Test Man-of-the-Match Awards
Number Match Bowling Figures Match Batting Figures Match Against City/Country Venue Season
1 5/34 and 5/59 13 and did not bat 14 New Zealand Johannesburg, South Africa New Wanderers Stadium 2007/08
2 4/42 and 6/49 25 and did not bat 15 New Zealand Centurion, South Africa SuperSport Park 2007/08
3 5/87 and 5/67 76 and did not bat 28 Australia Melbourne, Aus Melbourne Cricket Ground 2008/09
Test Man-of-the-Series AwardsTest Man-of-the-Series Awards
Number Matches Series Wickets and Bowling Average Series Runs and Batting Average Against Country Season
1 2 20 wickets at 9.20 38 runs at 19.00 New Zealand South Africa 2007/08
2 3 20 wickets at 19.10 59 runs at 29.50 West Indies South Africa 2007/08
3 2 14 wickets at 12.57 7 runs at 7.00 Bangladesh Bangladesh 2007/08
Career Best Performances Batting Bowling
Score Fixture Venue Season Score Fixture Venue Season
Tests 76 South Africa v Australia MCG 2008 7-51 South Africa v India Nagpur 2010
ODI 35 South Africa v India Jaipur 2010 5-50 South Africa v India Nagpur 2011
T20I 5 South Africa v England Bridgetown 2010 4-9 South Africa v West Indies Port Elizabeth 2007
LA 35 South Africa v India Jaipur 2010 5-20 South Africa A v Sri Lanka A Colombo (RPS) 2005
T20 22 Titans v Lions Centurion 2010 4-9 South Africa v West Indies Port Elizabeth 2007
Others
Steyn is the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Test matches, a feat he achieved on 2 March 2008 in his 20th match.
Steyn is the second fastest South African, behind Hugh Tayfield to reach 150 wickets in Test matches, which he achieved in his 29th match.
Dale Steyn currently has the fourth best bowling strike rate of 38.9 of all time (in Tests), behind George Lohmann, John Ferris and Shane Bond.
Injuries During the 2010 Champions League Twenty20, Steyn got his head and back injured after backpedalling and falling over while taking the catch of Chennai Super Kings' Mike Hussey. Dale Steyn was unable to continue.
Controversies
Steyn was fined 100% of his match fee for spitting at West Indies fielder Sulieman Benn during the 3rd test of the West Indies-South Africa series in June 2010. Dale Steyn was deemed to have committed a Level 2 offence by ICC Match Referee Jeff Crowe.
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