If you had looked at the World Cup fixture list before the tournament got under way you would probably have picked India to beat South Africa in their group stage match. India have been tipped as a front runner to win the World Cup and it was inevitable that the Proteas would lose one on their way to the quarter-finals.

And after 20 overs you would have been patting yourself on the back for your accurate assessment, as the Indian openers Sehwag and the legend of Sachin Tendulkar quite simply murdered the Proteas bowling attack. Sehwag scored 73 (66), Tendulkar 111 (101) and Gambhir 69 (75)… the writing was on the wall.

However when Tendulkar lost his wicket the Indian batting line-up collapsed under the pressure of Dale Steyn. Steyn wrapped up the Indians quickly taking 5 wickets from 16 balls. The Indians losing 9 wickets for 29 runs. 297 set to win, it was still going to be a massive run chase.

The Proteas kept us on the edge of our seats during the run chase, Amla was again an awesome contributor to the innings while Smith continued his poor run of form 16 (39). Kallis’ innings signalled a return of form not one game too late with this 69 (88) eventually run out.

AB de Villiers added haste to the inning with his more than a run-a-ball half-century. There was still plenty of runs to be scored and this time the middle to lower order delivered in style. Faf du Plessis partnered with Botha 23 (15) and Peterson 18* (7) to bring the team to victory. Needing 13 runs from the last over, Peterson hit 16 from the first four balls.

What a game of cricket, The Castle Larger Proteas Super Fans really got their full value, this game will go into the history books. What a privilege is must have been to have been there.

The elation from the dressing room was fantastic, a massive fight back from the criticism and negativity of the loss to England the week before. The Proteas fought with passion, even when they were getting smashed in the opening stanza of the match.

This is the Proteas we’re used to seeing, the boys with the never say die attitude, it was a pleasure to watch and oh how sweet it must have felt to have silenced the critics.

I must admit that Dale Steyn’s impressive bowling figures in Test cricket were not apparent to me, I know he’s a world class player, but I didn’t know that he’s on his way to potentially becoming the best fast bowler of all time.

Steyn took his 200^th Test wicket against the West Indies in the first Test of the three match series, that 200^th wicket came from just 39 Test matches. Dale Steyn is the fourth fastest bowler to get to 200 Test wickets, only CV Grimmett (Aus) 36, DK Lillee (Aus) 38 and Waqar Younis (Pak) 38 have reached the 200 Test wicket mile stone quicker than Dale Steyn.

It’s the above statistic that got me reading and looking up Steyn’s statistics, here’s what I found:

Steyn’s strike rate has been consistent since the start of his Test career in December 2004, his 100^th wicket came in his 21st test match.

He’s taken 10 wickets in a match on four occasions, he took 10 wickets back to back against New Zealand in 2007. Steyn has taken 5 wickets on fourteen occasions. To put these statistics in perspective, Shaun Pollock who holds the record for the number of Test wickets by a South African (421) has taken 5 wickets on sixteen occasions and 10 wickets just once .

Bowling partners

The recent success that Morne Morkel has enjoyed should have a positive impact on Dale Steyn, all of the great fast bowlers in the world have had a successful bowling partner. Donald had Pollock, Pollock had Ntini and now Steyn has Morkel.

As South Africans we should enjoy watching the number 1 Test bowler in the world hitting his finest form and celebrate his success.

Alan Donald reached the mile stone of 200 Test wickets in his 42 second test match, 9^th fastest in all time. Donald took 5 wickets on twenty occasions and 10 wickets three occasions.

Asked and answered. Herschelle Gibbs was under pressure to score runs to retain his spot in the Proteas side and boy did he do it in style, scoring 110 runs from 116 deliveries. The century from Gibbs and the 84 runs from AB de Villiers lead South Africa to a massive 317/6 and a series victory. The Australian team was unsure of themselves going into the fourth MTN ODI at Sahara Oval St. George’s in Port Elizabeth on the back of two comprehensive losses. The Aussies showed their hand before the game by including Shane Harwood (35) making his debut as the third oldest Australian to make the ODI team.

A further sign of the lack of confidence came when Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and choose to field first, unsure of what a good total was.

Smith and Gibbs started the innings in a nervous and unsure manner, both played at balls that should have been left alone with Gibbs chasing the ball on almost every occasion. Luck was on Gibbs’ side as he made it through the first ten overs though, Smith unfortunately departed early for just 20 runs. The further departure of Kaills (17) brought AB de Villiers and Herschelle Gibbs together.

The pure class of Gibbs started to show, with AB putting in a fine performance at the other end. The Australian bowlers had no answer to the onslaught during the pairs 136-run third-wicket partnership. Gibbs, Morkel, de Villiers lost their wickets between the 38th and 42nd overs, JP Duminy and Mark Boucher ensured that they lower order played a significant role with Duminy scoring 40 runs from 25 balls.

Chasing a total of 318 for victory it was always going to be a huge task, but as usual the Aussies were up for a fight. Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin put in an opening stand of 129; Ricky Ponting was also on a mission with the bat, knocking four fours off Dale Steyn in one over before he was caught by Albie Morkel for 53. The bowling of Roelof van der Merwe must again be applauded for turning the game as he took the wickets of Clarke, Ferguson and Michael Hussey within five overs. Dale Steyn took the key wickets of Ponting and David Hussey, ending the innings with four wickets. Australia was all out in the 46th over for 256.

Over the home and away ODI series South Africa have won 7 and lost 2, with the ODI No. 1 ranking changing a few times. South Africa has now won three ODI series in a row against Australia and retains the ODI No. 1 ranking. Onwards to the ICC World T20… Forever  Proteas.

1,5,8,1,3 what is that? It’s the scores from the Australian batsmen in the second MTN ODI at SuperSport Park Centurion. On what was a beautiful autumn day in Centurion the Australians came out to bat first. Dale Steyn opened the wicket taking bowling Brad Haddin for 1 run, his leg wicket flying out of the ground, Wayne Parnell in only his second ODI got into the action in his first over as well claiming Pointing caught behind.

After opening with a maiden wicket over, Parnell then trapped Michael Clark lbw for 5 runs. At this point the Aussies were in trouble, but it got deeper, quickly. In the next over Steyn got David Hussey caught behind, the tourists were reeling at 19/4. The Aussies were on the run as the Protea’s continued to hunt them down through the bowling of Steyn and Parnell, both claiming another wicket to have the Australian side staring one of the lowest totals in the face at 40/6.

The 20 000 strong crowd at this point wanted Australia to score some runs and make a contest of it. Ferguson and Johnson came together for a 50 run partnership but the damage was already done, the Australians were bowled out for a poultry 131 from 40.2 overs.

Chasing down the runs was no problem for the South Africans, only Gibbs failed to rack up some runs, g, out for 2from another poor shot directly to midwicket.

After the thorough whipping last Friday evening the Protea’s made some strategic changes to the team leaving out Amla, Morne Morkel and Makaya Ntini. Jacques Kallis returned from injury, Roelof van der Merwe made his debut and Wayne Parnell ensured that he’ll be playing in the next game. The Protea’s answered their supporters call delivering an inspiring victory.

The two South African fast bowlers finished with the following figures:

Dale Steyn: 9.2 Overs, 0 maidens, 27 runs, 4 wickets
Wayne Parnell: 8 Overs, 4 maidens, 25 runs, 4 wickets

Score board describes the game: legen wait for it dary

South Africa is in a dominant position at the close of play on the first day of the third and final Castle Test match at Sahara Park Newlands, Cape Town. Ricky Ponting won toss and elected to bat first, perhaps not the best decision. A poor start in the field saw South Africa drop two catches, while the Australians moved on to 58/0. Imraan Kahn dropped a sitter and JP Duminy dropped Hughes off Paul Harris. Harris stepped up and took the wicket of Hughes two balls later to open the wicket taking.

One run later and Ricky Ponting was walking back to the Pavilion with a duck next to his name. The highest scorer for Australia was Katich who was out for 55 off 160 balls.

Jacques Kallis captained the team well and had the Australians all out for 209, an hour before the end of the day. Enter Imraan Kahn and Ashwell Prince, the expectation to score was high after scoring a big century and a double century respectively. Prince led the partnership scoring freely to take play to a close with South Africa on 57/0. Prince had scored 37 runs from 36 balls in a powerful batting display.

South Africa are 157 runs behind, if Prince picks up where he left off the Australians are going to be in trouble by lunch on day two.

All the rumors of unhappiness in the team have been put to rest by an inspiring batting performance, now we need to keep or heads and add 300 runs on day two to setup a powerful first innings lead.

Bowling performances from South Africa:

Steyn: 16 overs, 56 runs, 4 wickets
Ntini: 17 overs, 38 runs, 2 wickets
Kallis: 10 overs, 31 runs, 0 wickets
A Morkel: 12 overs, 44 runs, 1 wicket
Harris: 17 overs, 34 runs, 3 wickets