Dale Steyn: Irrepressible, magical and the best fast bowler in a generation

South African speedster Dale Steyn has put in yet another match-winning performance, this time in Galle against Sri Lanka in the first test. After his match figures of 9/99, Steyn now has 371 wickets from 73 matches.

Dale Steyn is magical. In an era in which wickets are getting flatter even in places such as South Africa, England and Australia, traditionally known for bowler-friendly pitches, Steyn has averaged 22.76 with a strike rate of 41.7.

An average of 22 over 73 matches in any era is a sign of a great fast bowler. However, what makes Steyn so special is that strike rate of 41 and the fact that he takes over five wickets per match.

To put this in perspective, Mitchell Johnson, who is now being hailed as a bowling great, has 4.5 wickets per match over 59 games, and James Anderson has about 3.6. Steyn has no comparable contemporaries besides these two.

But there is another significant difference. While Anderson is often called a home-track bully, Mitchell Johnson merely seems to be at his peak right now. It is only since 2012 that Johnson has been consistently threatening. That is merely 12 games. 

Until 2011, Johnson played 47 matches, averaged 31 and had a strike rate of 56. Those are hardly the figures of an all-time great. After 2011, Johnson has averaged an incredible 17, taking 74 wickets in 12 games at a strike rate of 34.

Anderson's case is different. His career average still sits firmly at 30. He hasn't been particularly better since 2012 than he was before it. But most telling is the difference between his home and away averages. At home, Anderson is the prime bowler for England, taking wickets at an average of 27 and a strike rate of 54. Away, this average moves up to 36, and the strike rate to 67. Anderson's performance in Australia and South Africa, known for their bowler-friendly tracks just like England, has been ordinary at best.

Steyn has neither faced disappointment abroad like Anderson nor an inconsistent career like Mitchell Johnson. After his first three games spanning two years, Steyn has never averaged above 32 in a year. This is the ninth year in a row that he has held up that statistic. Even during these nine years, only twice has his bowling average crossed 30. The second time it did so, in 2012, was the year in which Steyn's career strike rate moved past 40. 

Steyn's performance has been top notch against all countries except England, against whom he averages a decent 32. Against all countries Steyn at least has one five wicket haul. Against all countries except Bangladesh (where he has just played 4 games) Steyn has at least two five wicket hauls. 

Away from home, Steyn has five wicket hauls in all countries except Bangladesh, England and the UAE. In all countries except England and the UAE, he has a bowling average under 30.

All this means that there is a very small difference between his home and away averages - 21 to 23. But there is more about Steyn.

Fast bowlers from Australia, England and South Africa have always found the subcontinent to be their graveyard. The similarity ends with Steyn. Flat wickets do not affect his bowling performances by much. A case in point is Steyn's humiliation of India at Ahmedabad in March 2008 on a dustbowl, when he took 5/23 to blow out the home team for 76 in the first innings. Steyn averages a staggering 20 in India. Which other fast bowler from outside the subcontinent can boast of this? 

In Galle in 2014, Steyn has done much the same, with 9/99 on a flat wicket. There are several other performances between 2008 and now which if listed out, would constitute an entire piece in themselves.

Steyn has consistently held sway over most of the world's top batsmen, bar perhaps Sachin Tendulkar. Steyn has been unfortunate on two counts here though - most Tendulkar-Steyn contests happened in a period where the former had (incredibly) discovered a second golden period in his career. It is significant that the BCCI arranged a farewell series for Tendulkar against the mediocre West Indies at home in 2013, for India's next test series consisted of a tour to South Africa. Surely, the establishment had no intention of exposing the ageing, out-of-form great to the rampant Dale Steyn.

Steyn's greatness is made up of pace, pinpoint accuracy, guile and aggression coming together at once. Early on in career, he was regarded as a bowler with a lot of talent but not enough hunger. No one can accuse him of a lack of motivation now.

Moreover, there have been examples of seemingly gifted fast bowlers losing the plot mid-career, over the past decade or so. Steve Harmison comes to mind. Mitchell Johnson has only recently turned the corner. India unearths an exciting new bowling talent every few years - Irfan Pathan is the prime example - only for the bowler to fizzle out after a few years. Steyn has not gone down that path. He has used his gifts to the fullest, and consistently so, for over a decade.

Steyn is 31 now, but it seems there is a lot still left in him. A fast bowler's productive career span is usually a decade. Steyn seems to be in no mood to adhere to that norm either.

In a list of South Africa's best bowlers since readmission in 1991, Steyn's only challenger is Allan Donald. Donald was the nightmare of many a good batsman for close to a decade. His bowling statistics - average of 22 and strike rate of 47 - are quite similar to Steyn. Donald was similarly devastating across countries and year after year. He similarly combined pace, aggression and pin-point accuracy. The image of him blowing up the stumps of Sachin Tendulkar in his prime is the stuff of legend.

However, two things must be considered while making such a comparison. The first is that Donald played on wickets far more conducive to fast bowlers, particularly outside the subcontinent. Secondly, Donald's career began late (at the age of 25) and ended in less than a decade, when he broke down en-route a horrendous defeat to Australia in Johannesburg. Steyn, as described before, is bowling like he sees no end in sight.

Steyn's figures are better when compared to even those of the greats of the bowler-friendly decade of the 1990s. His average is similar to that of Curtly Ambrose and Allan Donald, and his strike rate is far superior to that of Ambrose, Donald, McGrath, Wasim Akram and Courtney Walsh. To put this in perspective, the 1990s was statistically the second best decade for fast bowlers in the 20th century. 

As a cricket fan in an era of mindless slog-hitting, huge bats, small grounds, flat wickets and an overdose of Twenty20 'cricket', Dale Steyn is an incredible breath of fresh air. One can only enjoy his magic until it lasts, and he is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest fast bowlers ever. Perhaps he is already there.