Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African cricket team. He is widely regarded as the greatest fast bowler of the modern era and one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time. Steyn's ability to produce late swing at high pace - a rare and lethal combination amongst fast bowlers - made him stand apart from many of his contemporaries. Many cricketing legends have regarded his length deliveries unplayable when the ball swung. During the 2007–08 season, Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at an average of 16.24, and was subsequently rewarded with the ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. He was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 2013, and the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2013 in 2014's Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. In December 2015 he injured his shoulder in the Durban Test against England; after this injury his career was a short lived one as it was followed by multiple injuries; these injuries were the reason why many cricketing greats didn't even consider post 2015 Steyn as "The Dale Steyn" which the batsmen feared to face. He was featured in Wisden Cricketers of the Decade at the end of 2019. He also was included in the ICC Test Team of the Decade at the end of 2020.
Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings at the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan sits next on the list with 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn had spent 2,356 days at the top as of 6 October 2016. In October 2012, former South African test cricketer Allan Donald called the South African pace attack, which Steyn was part of, alongside Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, the best South Africa had ever produced. In December 2018, during the first Test against Pakistan, Steyn became the leading wicket taker for South Africa in Test cricket, a distinction previously held by all-rounder and former-captain Shaun Pollock.
On 5 August 2019, Steyn announced his retirement from Test cricket, to focus on limited-overs cricket. Steyn announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on 31 August 2021.
Early life and domestic career
Steyn was born in 1983 in the small town of Phalaborwa, on the border of the Kruger National Park in South Africa. His family is from Zimbabwe.
Steyn made his first-class debut for Northerns (subsequently merged with Easterns to form the Titans) on 17 October 2003. He only played two first-class games and made little impact in his first season, but a series of strong performances in the initial part of the 2004/05 season saw him called up to the Test squad to play England. He went back to playing for the Titans after failing to impress in his first three Tests. However his late outswinging delivery to castle Michael Vaughan in the 4th innings of his first test at Gqeberha, Port Elizabeth is considered as one of the balls of the century.
Steyn went to England in 2005 to play for Essex, appearing in seven matches between May and June. He failed to make a big impact in his initial outing in County Championship cricket, taking 14 wickets at 59.85. Following his work at Essex with world expert bowling coach Ian Pont Steyn returned to domestic cricket in South Africa, where he bowled excellently for the Titans through the 2005/2006 season which earned him a recall to the Test squad to face New Zealand.
As a result of becoming a regular selection for the national team, Steyn subsequently played little domestic cricket in South Africa from then onwards, appearing for the Titans in just five SuperSport Series matches after the end of the 2005/06 season.
He had a second stint in England, playing for Warwickshire in the first half of the 2007 English season. This time around he had more success, claiming 23 County Championship wickets in seven matches at an average of 25.86. He also played well in the Friends Provident Trophy, a 50-over tournament, finishing as the leading wicket-taker for Warwickshire. He has since become a regular in the South African One Day International team.
Steyn signed to play in the Indian Premier League in 2008, playing for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. He earned US$325,000 for his appearance in the tournament. He spent his first three seasons in the Indian Premier League with Royal Challengers Bangalore. For IPL 2011 he was bought by Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million. After Deccan Chargers were terminated from the IPL he was drafted to Sunrisers Hyderabad where he played three seasons.
In the 2016 IPL auction, he was bought by Gujarat Lions for ₹ 22.3 million. He could not participate in the 2017 IPL season after being released by Gujarat Lions prior to the season. He went unsold at the 2018 and 2019 IPL auctions. In mid-April 2019, Steyn joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for the 2019 IPL season as a replacement for the injured Nathan Coulter-Nile.
In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Royal Challengers Bangalore ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League. He played three matches in the tournament, picking one wicket at an average of 133 and economy rate of 11.40. He was released from the team after the season.
In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the Cape Town Blitz team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In October 2019, Steyn signed to play in the Big Bash for the Melbourne Stars.
In December 2019, he was drafted by Pakistan Super League franchise Islamabad United as their first pick of the draft in the Platinum Category.
In November 2020, Steyn joined Kandy Tuskers for the 2020 Lanka Premier League. In the 2021 PSL Draft, he was picked by Quetta Gladiators in the Supplementary category.
Steyn made his debut for South Africa on 17 December 2004 in the first Test of England's tour. His first victim in Test cricket was Marcus Trescothick whom he bowled with a fast in-swinging delivery. However, his overall performance was underwhelming, he took eight wickets at an average of 52.00 and he was dropped after bowling poorly in England's second innings of the fourth Test in January 2005, bowling eight no-balls in nine overs which went for 47 runs. England won the match by 77 runs.
Later that year, Steyn was picked in the squad for the African XI in the Afro-Asia Cup of 2005/06, and he made his One Day International debut on 17 August 2005. The African XI won the match, with Steyn bowling last batsman Ashish Nehra to seal victory by two runs. Steyn made his One Day International debut for South Africa on 20 January 2006 in a match against Australia at Melbourne, a match which was part of the 2005–06 VB Series. Steyn did not bowl particularly well and after another below par performance against Sri Lanka he dropped out of consideration for the South African ODI team.
Following a strong season playing domestic cricket for the Titans, Steyn was recalled to the Test team to play New Zealand in April 2006. He responded to his opportunity with his first five-wicket haul in the first Test at Centurion, ripping through the New Zealand batting lineup along with Makhaya Ntini as New Zealand crumbled to 120 all out, chasing 248 to win. He finished the three Test series with 16 wickets at 26.00 and made a fine impression throughout.