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Rob Houwing’s Oz press-watch
Cape Town – Dale Steyn is worthy of his ICC Test Player of the Year hype, says Australian pace bowling legend Dennis Lillee.
Lillee told a luncheon at the WACA ground in Perth on Monday, scene of the first Test against the Proteas from Wednesday, that Steyn was “fantastic”.
Quoted by the AAP news agency, Lillee said: “He skids more than bounces although he has got a good bouncer too.”
The thing he liked about the South African spearhead, he said, was that he offered a lot of wicket-taking balls rather than falling into the trap of bowling too much short stuff.
“It’s the ones who learn quickly about the upper length, which makes the (batsman) play the ball more, and fuller … the better a fast bowler becomes.
“He has that ability and he bowls a lovely little late out-swinger with that length and that’s his secret.”
Interestingly, Lillee said he could not pick a winner of the three-Test series between the two top-ranked teams.
“I just think it’s up in the air. Both sides are very competitive. They are very closely matches. I just don’t think I could pick it.”
Former Aussie captain and also “rebel” skipper in South Africa in the mid-1980s, Kim Hughes, shared Lillee’s view that the Proteas pace attack were in awesome form.
“Fellows like Steyn particularly with the new ball are going to be a handful. You are going to see the nicks carry (to slip) at the WACA.
“If Morne Morkel can have a look at Ishant Sharma who bowled beautifully here last year (in India’s WACA Test victory) … Morkel I think is going to be a real handful, six-foot seven around the wicket to the left-handers.”
Rob Houwing’s Oz press-watch
Cape Town – Dale Steyn is worthy of his ICC Test Player of the Year hype, says Australian pace bowling legend Dennis Lillee.
Lillee told a luncheon at the WACA ground in Perth on Monday, scene of the first Test against the Proteas from Wednesday, that Steyn was “fantastic”.
Quoted by the AAP news agency, Lillee said: “He skids more than bounces although he has got a good bouncer too.”
The thing he liked about the South African spearhead, he said, was that he offered a lot of wicket-taking balls rather than falling into the trap of bowling too much short stuff.
“It’s the ones who learn quickly about the upper length, which makes the (batsman) play the ball more, and fuller … the better a fast bowler becomes.
“He has that ability and he bowls a lovely little late out-swinger with that length and that’s his secret.”
Interestingly, Lillee said he could not pick a winner of the three-Test series between the two top-ranked teams.
“I just think it’s up in the air. Both sides are very competitive. They are very closely matches. I just don’t think I could pick it.”
Former Aussie captain and also “rebel” skipper in South Africa in the mid-1980s, Kim Hughes, shared Lillee’s view that the Proteas pace attack were in awesome form.
“Fellows like Steyn particularly with the new ball are going to be a handful. You are going to see the nicks carry (to slip) at the WACA.
“If Morne Morkel can have a look at Ishant Sharma who bowled beautifully here last year (in India’s WACA Test victory) … Morkel I think is going to be a real handful, six-foot seven around the wicket to the left-handers.”
