The greatest men's internationals of the century No. 8: Dale Steyn

Fast, furious and fearless, the South Africa pacer was the stuff of batters' nightmares

Firdose Moonda

Published: May 25, 2026, 2:21 AM (3 hrs ago)

8. Dale Steyn

Overall: 699 wickets at 23.37 ave

Extreme pace, late swing, relentless discipline, and a vein-popping celebration that sprayed passion onto the pitch - Steyn is South Africa's best. He combined swing and speed with aggression and accuracy that made him one of the most lethal to face, with new or old ball, whatever the match situation, and especially if things were heating up.

Steyn feasted on big moments and was often given the ball to break an opposition open, at home, and most impressively, abroad. He was part of South Africa's first post-readmission away series wins in England and Australia, and then proved himself a class above when he thrived on the subcontinent to devastating effect. Steyn mastered the art of reverse swing and took 92 wickets in 22 Tests at 24.11 in Asia, including his career best, 7 for 51 in Nagpur.

Though his Test career steals the spotlight, Steyn was also a wily white-ball bowler, especially in the 50-over game. He was economical upfront, developed into a difficult-to-get-away death bowler and took a wicket almost once every five overs.

He finished as South Africa's highest Test wicket-taker, with a tally of 439 and 26 five-wicket hauls. Still, there is a sense that there could have been many more. Being lean and lithe with a smooth action meant he was injury-free for most of the first decade of his career but a series of severe shoulder issues ended his career in 2019, before he was really ready to walk away.

Vernon Philander on Dale Steyn: Dale deserves every accolade coming his way. He's been a fantastic leader, who led from the front. He has a wonderful ability of finding the balance between being serious and also having a bit of humour about himself.

The minute he stepped over the boundary, he definitely had a white-line fever about him. He would leave everything else aside and was very determined for the task at hand. Especially in Test match cricket, he could fire it up and change the momentum of the game by injecting some good energy and aggression to complement it.

He was the guy that we looked to when the chips were down. I remember [Jacques] Kallis' final Test match, where the game was going absolutely nowhere and Graeme [Smith] said to Dale, "You know what, we need to deliver a big one here for one of our mates." And Dale really stood up [he took nine wickets].

Stats are for the 2000-2025 period

Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo's senior correspondent for Africa and women's cricket

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