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Cape Town – Dale Steyn has dropped heavy hints that he will miss the Proteas’ one-day international away series against Bangladesh in early July ...but perhaps be there in a mentoring capacity for any less experienced quickies chosen.
The fast bowler turns 32 in late June, just ahead of those assignments, and if he does sidestep the three-match roster – South Africa’s first in the 50-overs format since their heartbreaking exit from the World Cup at the semi-final stage – it would be in keeping with the pre-CWC speculation that he will at the very least scale down his ODI involvement now.
Steyn not playing the series might also open the door for the Proteas to blood an exciting young speedster like Kagiso Rabada, 19, who will probably play in the Twenty20 portion of the tour anyway (he has three caps in that format) but then finally get a crack in the more extended limited-overs environment.
The Phalaborwa Express would be back in national colours, all going well, for the two-Test main event of the trip; the five-day game remains very much his forte and where his legend has overwhelmingly been forged.
In an interview with Wisden India on Monday (http://www.wisdenindia.com/cricket-article/steyn-steyn-demands-trial-combat/163679) the Sunrisers Hyderabad player in the IPL said: “I love playing Test cricket and I know that my days are numbered with regards to how many Test matches I’m going to have left, so I’d prefer to play a lot more Test cricket.”
Nevertheless, he did not appear to completely preclude the possibility of one further crack, in English conditions in 2019, at breaking South Africa’s World Cup jinx, even if he may also have been referring to the more frequent opportunities presented for major-tournament success via the ICC World Twenty20 route every two years.
“It might sound very cocky or naive of me, or self-centred, but I want to win a World Cup for my country, and they only come around once every four years.
“If you’re playing in the Twenty20 World Cup, luckily they come around every year (sic).
“So with due respect to places like Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, going and playing three ODIs in Bangladesh does nothing for my confidence as opposed to knowing that I’m going to a World Cup.
“At this stage of my career, I’d rather be saving myself to go and participate in the major tournaments, rather than wasting the few balls I have left in my career in a Bangladesh match.
“I’d rather go to Bangladesh to help and support future South African bowlers, and use what is left of the 10,000 or 20,000 deliveries that I have left in my body for the big tournament.
“That’s where I’m at personally. At the beginning of my career, I would have done everything; I would have gone every tournament and to every place.
“But I’ve done it all now.”
Steyn also says that he hasn’t had the time to digest yet the latest World Cup disappointment, given that he went straight into the IPL after it.
“You have to find a mask and some kind of way to just cover that and deal with it later. When I get some time off is when I’ll sit down, empty out that World Cup bag and go through some emotions of that.
“Once I’m done dealing with that, I’ll move on to the next thing again. It hurts, but it’s life, man. I’ll unpackage that baby later and see where we went wrong. I’m really not too fazed now; it’s gone, it’s done, it’s over.”
*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing
