Cricket is lesser without Dale Steyn, and it is scary to think it may never have him fully back

Osman Samiuddin pens a paean to Dale Steyn, the injured-again South Africa bowler who he worries, with this latest setback, may never again be his terrifying best.

South Africa's Dale Steyn reacts after injuring himself against Australia in Perth. David Gray / Reuters / November 4, 2016
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It was, if we are being honest, a wasteful spell. The new ball in hand, a pacey Perth wicket underfoot and a big series ahead of him – sure, it was easy to see why Dale Steyn was so pumped.

This was a headline clash. Steyn created some headlines in the build-up – he wanted to “cut the head off the snake” of the opposition and for all that it was banter, it felt appropriate to the mood.

Steyn was talking specifically about Steve Smith, the Australia captain. But he might as well have included David Warner in that targeting, given Warner’s position at the very top of the order and his place in this Australia batting line: he can, even in Tests, change a game in a session.

And it was to Warner that Steyn began, and began poorly. He bowled too short and did not make him drive enough. Vernon Philander is a different species of fast bowler, but at once it was clear his lengths were going to be more troublesome.

Perhaps Steyn was just indulging himself a little. This, after all, was a return to the big stage, a grand series against a worthy opponent. Fast bowlers do not have it easy these days and here, chancing upon a pitch with genuine speed and bounce, Steyn indulged.

Why not bowl short and try to hit heads and scare a few guys? It was telling that Steyn’s pace was up from the last couple of years, even hitting 150kph, which he has not done as often recently. Here, in these conditions, in this environment, he was letting himself go.

Sure he went for runs but what a spectacle it was. Warner rode his luck a little, manufactured some shots, fell flat on his back upper-cutting a four; Steyn threw in some glares and words. It was stirring stuff, a great fast bowler against a modern opening tyro, whetting the appetite for the rest of the series.

The next morning Steyn got it right, as if he had gotten that little burst out of his system. He cut back on the gas a little, stretched out to those fuller lengths that enable late swing. He dismissed Warner with such a delivery and the moment was upon us.

And then, in his next over, he felt a “thud or pop” in his right shoulder and that was that. A serious fracture in an unusual area and six months out, with surgery needed.

Steyn will be 34 before he plays for South Africa again and if speculating about his future just days after the injury feels impolite, it cannot be entirely misplaced. It is too soon to say whether or not he will return at all, but not to wonder in what shape and form he does.

This is, after all, a third big injury in the last year. In that time he has only started five of the 11 Tests South Africa have played. More worryingly, he has not completed three of those five Tests.

Even if he does come back, there is already a growing sense of regret, of the type that accompanies the end of a great career. Why? Because in the last year he has missed three big series, the biggest for any side these days: Indian in India, England at home and Australia away.

These are contests that provide just the right stage for a figure of Steyn’s stature, for a cricketer of his gifts. Cricket has been a lesser place without him there and it is little surprise South Africa have lost two of those series.

He may yet have another chance: South Africa visit England next summer and then host India and Australia in quick succession at the start of 2018.

But what shape will he be in then? These injuries form a worrisome pattern in the sense that they do not really form any pattern. A groin strain here, a shoulder injury there – they come quick and fast for fast bowlers after an age, sometimes for no reason other than the general and cumulative toll their occupation takes of their bodies.

South Africa have tried to manage Steyn’s workload – not always to his pleasure – by lessening his limited overs commitments. But the outlook has changed unmistakably now. This is a serious injury, to a part of the body that is invaluable to his craft. Neither is he a twenty-something tearaway anymore.

South Africa will do everything they can to bring him back, but simultaneously they will be compelled to draw up a future without him.

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