5 of the best ODI bowling performances by Dale Steyn

Dale Steyn is arguably the best fast bowler South Africa has ever produced. Every time he steams in towards the wickets, batsmen sweat and shiver hoping it won’t be another yorker or bouncer bowled at over 90 mph.

Most batsmen are not lucky enough to avoid the wicket ripping delivery. Steyn is back in South Africa’s one-day squad after a gap of 2 years due to injury problems. And now, Dale Steyn is hungrier than ever.

With 180 wickets in 116 ODIs, Steyn is South Africa’s seventh highest wicket-taker in white ball cricket. The rapid fast bowler is already South Africa’s joint highest wicket-taker in Test cricket with Shaun Pollock, which speaks for his class and impact on the game.

The game seemed pale with his absence, but he has been included in South Africa’s ODI squad to play Zimbabwe later this month. The 35-year old last played an ODI in October 2016, but injuries have kept him out of the game ever since. He showed his enthusiasm at being back in the ODI mix through a tweet immediately after the squad was announced.

Hello white ball my old friend...I’ve come to play with you again 😉🏏

— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) September 14, 2018

With the World Cup 2019 in sight, neither will Steyn want to stay out of the World Cup nor will South Africa want to enter the tournament without him. Before the series against Zimbabwe begins, let’s look at the 5 top bowling performances by Dale Steyn in white ball cricket:

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#5 vs Bangladesh (Potchefstroom, 2008)

He lets the ball do the talking for him

It was 2008 and Dale Steyn was young and relatively early in his career. He didn’t need his mouth to make an impact on the world of sports, as his bowling skills and pace was already there to do it for him. The first ODI between Bangladesh and South Africa in the series saw Steyn make the impact he needed.

South Africa put up 283/8 on the scoreboard and it was more than enough for the Proteas to defend with the bowling line-up they had. Steyn started the proceedings, bowling a hostile spell, which was rewarded by the wickets of Imrul Kayes and Junaid Siddique.

He returned to take down the biggest threat in the form of Bangladesh’s captain Ashraful and bowled out Raqibul Hasan the very next ball. South Africa went on to win the match by 61 runs as the Bangladeshis were bowled out for 222.

Steyn finished with figures of 4/16 and the Player of the Match award.

#4 vs Pakistan (Abu Dhabi, 2013)

Steyn destroyed the other men in Green

Steyn paid a visit to Pakistan’s home away from home to collect some more wickets in 2013. No bowler can bowl like Steyn when he’s on top of his game, and that was the case during South Africa’s tour of the UAE in 2013.

South Africa made 266/5 in their 50 overs, and it was up to Steyn and his men to defend that total. He didn’t get a wicket early but made an impressive start with a maiden over as his first spell ended with figures of 4-1-9-0. His second spell was again economical and returned figures of 2-0-5-0.

Pakistan were doing well and it seemed that the match would be a tight contest, but Steyn had other ideas. In what turned out to be the game-changing spell of the match, Steyn scalped 5 wickets in only three overs, with three of those in one over, to send the middle-lower order crashing back to the pavilion.

Pakistan stumbled and fell face first in their 28-run defeat.

Steyn finished with figures of 5/25 and the Player of the Match award.

#3 vs Pakistan (Port Elizabeth, 2013)

Steyn left a mark on the match

A thriller of a match that saw some great performances by both the batsmen and bowlers. Steyn was the pick of the bowlers in the match once again as he sent Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Hafeez back to reduce Pakistan to 22/2.

But an explosive innings of 102 from opener Ahmed Shehzad meant that the Pakistanis recovered well and were well on their way to reaching the 300-run mark. But Steyn had other ideas as people witnessed one of the finest death bowling performances ever.

The South African marksman removed the likes of Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti, and Saeed Ajmal to ensure Pakistan couldn’t break free in the end overs. Pakistan was all-out for 262 runs.

South Africa batted brilliantly but fell only one run short in the thrilling match.

Steyn finished with figures of 6/39, his best ODI figures to date.

#2 vs Australia (Harare, 2014)

South Africa won the match and the tournament

Tournament finals make South Africa sweat. This was one final where they cruised to victory on the back of their fastest man. Steyn got Hughes early in the match and returned to clean up a cruising Aaron Finch, and ensured that Australia was tied down throughout the match.

He got Maxwell plumb in front of the wickets for a nought and Haddin for just 6 runs which kept the Kangaroos’ middle order contributing very little to the total. Australia finished with just 217/9 which was chased by South Africa in just 40.5 overs thanks to a brilliant 96 runs knock by Faf du Plessis.

Steyn finished with figures of 4/34 and another Player of the Match award.

#1 vs India (ICC World Cup 2011)

Steyn was awarded the Player of the Match award

South Africa had already won both their matches against India in World Cup history. Opening up, the Sehwag and Tendulkar duo put on 142 and took the attack to Proteas, scoring at more than a run-a-ball. Gautam Gambhir, who came in at number 3 scored a brisk 69 and put India on its way to reach the 350-run mark.

Enter Dale Steyn, who claimed Gambhir as his first wicket of the match, and went on to clean up the rest of India’s line-up for 296. Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, and Ashish Nehra were no match for Steyn’s pace and went back one-by-one. South Africa later chased down the mammoth total to win by 3 wickets and complete a hat-trick of World Cup wins against India.

Steyn finished with figures of 5/50 and the Player of the Match award.