We outbowled them – Steyn

Veteran fast bowler Dale Steyn (below), the Man of the Match in South Africa’s victory in the first ODI in Perth at the weekend, said the Proteas’ win was not so much due to poor Australian batting but rather the brilliant bowling of the visitors.

Having won the toss and elected to bowl first on a helpful pitch, South Africa bowled superbly with the new ball to reduce Australia to 8/3 after six overs. After 21 overs they had struggled to 66/6 as Steyn, who opened the bowling, set the tone with 2/18 in seven overs.

“We bowled really well and our relentless line and length made it difficult to score, Australia had to take risks and try and play good shots off good balls. It was a tough pitch to bat on and they had to rebuild and wait for bad balls but we were relentless.

“So I think the win was down to our bowling and not them batting poorly. They don’t have to be embarrassed, it was tough conditions and if they had got 30 to 40 more runs then it would have been a tricky chase for us. I just think we outbowled them, their bowlers didn’t do as well as they potentially could have,” Steyn said.

“I didn’t ever think I’d be playing in Australia again! They bat deep, all the way to Nathan Coulter-Nile at nine, so my job was to take early wickets and put them under pressure. So it was nice to take some wickets, it’s what I’ve been doing my whole career.

“But the bowling as a whole has been going really well of late and we wanted to hit them with what we’ve got, our pace, and our bowling is our strength at the moment.

“Lungi Ngidi has been hot since the IPL, Kagiso Rabada has been a fantastic competitor for the last couple of years and I’m just so happy to be back.

“Plus, Imran Tahir is the best white-ball spinner in the world; we’re just feeding off each other,” Steyn said.