Dale Steyn aiming for the 'head of the snake'

The South Africans will face off against the Australians in a three-match Test series starting from 3rd November, which is considered by many to be the fiercest contest of 2016. Both the teams have already started the war of words with Dale Steyn making the strongest of comments. The South African pacer has claimed that the Proteas will be looking to attack the Aussie captain Steven Smith in their bid to attain a series victory.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Steyn said, "If you can cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the body tends to fall." The speedster said that he would be particularly looking for Smith's wicket in the series in order to demoralize the Australian squad.

He went on to add, "We’ve done that in the past. We’ve tried to attack the captain because he is the leader and if we can cause a bit of chaos there, sometimes it does affect the rest of the guys." Steyn's comments came in as a surprise to the cricketing fraternities as targeting the captain has been a longstanding tactic of the Aussies while the Protea pacer seemed to give the Australians a taste of their own.

Have to sink the Aussie ship, says Steyn

"Aussie captains lead the attack. From history, you look at guys that are great players like Steve Waugh, he stands out. I don’t think many people can name a team underneath him but you remember Steve Waugh,” Steyn said while stating the importance of dismissing the opposition skipper quickly.

Steyn went on to say that Smith's wicket will be the chief priority for the South African bowlers throughout the series given the fact that he is the Australian skipper and has a strong mentality when it comes to battling it out with the bat.

He said, "You can remember Ricky Ponting, and Michael Clarke and then Steven Smith falls into that bracket. The moment you can get hold of your captain, the rest of the players rely heavily on him. He leads the ship so when you pull the plug on that kind of ship, and he’s holding it, you can sink it. It’s not very easy but there’s a way to sink it."

However, Steyn didn't seem to go too far with his comments over the Australians and said that the series will be a challenging one for the Proteas. "When it comes to being on top of the Australians, you never quite feel like that. Even if you’ve beaten them for 365 days in a row, come the 1st of January the next year, they are up for it," he said.

The first Test is scheduled to start on the 3rd of November in Perth where the South Africans have dominated the Australians in the past and boast a three-game unbeaten run.