Dale Steyn -Greatest of All Time

[stephen]

He was robbed by not being good enough till he was 30 tbh. Terrific bowler but I don't agree that he belongs with the likes of Bond/Reid/Asif group of 'could've been atg if not for injuries/stupidity'. He was rubbish for most of his career and suddenly became world class but by then he was already old. He wouldn't be as highly regarded if he'd been playing tests and been rubbish for 10 years instead of not being good enough to even make the team, which protected his stats.

He was injured a lot throughout that time as well but you're right that he only got good at around age 30. Right when he moved to Queensland.

 

[smash84]

Steyn is an all time great who has demolished batting line ups on all surfaces from the dust bowls of the sub-continent to the roads Australia. His record belongs to era of uncovered pitches and green tops. Imagine if had the same pitches as Marshall and Ambrose. I mean just look at his average and strike rate nobody in this era comes close except for Vern.

Ambrose and Marshall didn't play on greentops that often

 

[Tom Flint]

IF steyn comes back to full fitness and has another 2 full seasons at his best playing about 20 tests and takes another 80 wickets (leaving him on 500 ish) and also help SA win the 2019 world cup in england in his final year before retiring. Would this be enough to put him as the all time great fast bowler?
All very hypothetical i know lol.

 

[Red]

He’s already EASILY an ATG, even if he never plays another test

 

[Tom Flint]

He’s already EASILY an ATG, even if he never plays another test

No, what i said was would he be THE best ever. 'The all time great fast bowler.'
(Number one).

 

[Furball]

To be considered the GOAT, imo he needs to be definably better than Marshall. I'm not sure he is that.

He's a phenomenal bowler, great skills and great to watch.

That's not how you spell McGrath.

 

[Daemon]

IF steyn comes back to full fitness and has another 2 full seasons at his best playing about 20 tests and takes another 80 wickets (leaving him on 500 ish) and also help SA win the 2019 world cup in england in his final year before retiring. Would this be enough to put him as the all time great fast bowler?
All very hypothetical i know lol.

More than 20 tests and a few years, what Steyn needs is 20 years of retirement. People will then look back and think how he got such ridiculous figures all around the world at a time when bowling wasn't easy, all against lineups that had some seriously amazing batsmen like Sachin, Dravid, Ponting, Clarke, Chanders, Younis, Sanga, Jaya, Cook, Root, KW, Smith, Kohli, Pujara, Warner etc etc.

Those batsmen themselves would have gone up in peoples estimation due to the passing of time which would in turn positively affect how people viewed Steyn.

 

[Austerlitz]

Top 10

1.Marshall
2.Akram
3.Ambrose
4.Mcgrath
5.Lillee

6-10 in no order -
Imran
Steyn
Hadlee
Holding
Garner

Steyn's big drawback is he copped it in big matches,particularly world cups.That last over in 2015 especially.

 

[Gob]

Top 10

1.Marshall
2.Akram
3.Ambrose
4.Mcgrath
5.Lillee

6-10 in no order -
Imran
Steyn
Hadlee
Holding
Garner

Steyn's big drawback is he copped it in big matches,particularly world cups.That last over in 2015 especially.

No one literally cares for ODIs

 

[Austerlitz]

No one literally cares for ODIs

Except World cups.World cups matter more than bilateral tests.Purists may not like it,but thats a reality.

 

[Starfighter]

No, it's not.

 

[harsh.ag]

Yeah it is.

 

[stephen]

Winning a test series in India happens less frequently than winning the World Cup, so I'd say that series matters more. Then there's the Ashes which is the most important series of all. South Africa is pretty important too since they can actually beat us as home.

The other bilateral series aren't as important as the World Cup.

 

[Chrish]

Under bowling attack lead by Steyn, SA went for a decade without loosing an away series in an era where all other teams were pretty much hopeless outside of their den.

IMPACT!

 

[subshakerz]

Except World cups.World cups matter more than bilateral tests.Purists may not like it,but thats a reality.

Marshall's ODI record is pretty ordinary.

 

[Gob]

here's what steyn's team mates had to say after he became the fastest to take 400 test wickets...click on this

https://youtu.be/NLqIVqG67sA

Serves no purpose

 

[Dendarii]

after he became the fastest to take 400 test wickets

Muralitharan might have something to say about that.

 

[England First]

Very interested to see if 3 years has made any difference to where posters rank steyn in 2020. The main argument dale has is his era was full of flat wickets and great batters. And he still averaged 22.

 

[Spark]

Yeah as much as the current output of the current set of great bowlers is exceptional and worthy of being compared to any in history, in terms of overall career none of them are remotely close to Steyn.

 

[harsh.ag]

JBMAC don't give a flying ****