The South African bowling legend felt that not many are aware of the art of fast bowling
South African great Dale Steyn said he is disappointed by modern players just bowling express pace and expecting things to change within an over. The Proteas legend felt that Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and South Africa’s lead pacer Kagiso Rabada are the only exceptions to this trend, describing them as the fast bowlers of ‘gold’ standard.
Steyn, who is the most successful South African bowler with 439 Test wickets and 260 scalps in limited-overs cricket, said that fast bowlers’ careers are defined by the ability to provide breakthroughs whenever the captain asks them.
“I have seen international players today that will run in and bowl six balls without changing the field once, and they’ve played for ten years at the highest level. And sometimes I sit there and I’m pulling my hair out and I just think, can you not see what’s going to happen?” Steyn told ESPNCricinfo in an interview.
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He felt that Rabada and Bumrah have all the necessary qualities of a modern-day fast bowler which puts them a cut above everyone else.
“You look at guys like [Jasprit] Bumrah, he’s probably the all-in-all package, him and KG Rabada. They’ve got the ability to come and bowl at any particular time in a game and take a wicket. Those guys are like gold. So if you can produce more bowlers like that, we’ll start to see our fast-bowling stock get so much better. It’s not just about bowling 155kph these days or having tens of different types of skills, it’s really about being able to break the game open when your captain needs it,” the 41-year-old said.
In the same interview, former Kiwis pacer Shane Bond said that majority of the modern bowlers don’t know what they are doing contrary to the assumption of an average viewer when they look at international bowlers.
“There’s always an assumption as an international bowler: he knows what he’s doing. I think 70% of bowlers don’t know what they are doing. I say to my captains, don’t ever be afraid to tell a bowler what to bowl and then manoeuvre the field for them,” Bond said
“If you look at Bumrah, who’s the best bowler in the world, he’s that combination of, obviously, skill, [but he] works really hard, does his preparation on the batsman and has the ability to use his instinct as well. And when you combine those four things, that’s why he is No. 1 in the world. A lot of bowlers don’t have those four things,” the former Kolkata Knight Rider pacer added.
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