A big duel
THE SHOWDOWN
SYDNEY: Struggling South African fast bowler Dale Steyn must find a way to contain record-breaking West Indian batsman Chris Gayle in Friday’s World Cup clash.
Steyn’s cutting edge has been blunted at the tournament so far with his two matches giving him total figures of two for 119 from a win over Zimbabwe and a crushing loss to India.
Gayle, too, struggled at the start of the competition, making 36 in the defeat by Ireland and just four in the win over Pakistan.
But he roared back to form with his sensational, record-breaking 215 against Zimbabwe in Canberra on Tuesday, the firstever double century at a World Cup.
Now the spotlight at the Sydney Cricket Ground will be trained on Steyn, who has only ever dismissed Gayle once in their one-day international clashes.
That came in the first match of five on the eve of the World Cup when Gayle hit a breezy 41 in damp Durban, albeit in a losing cause.
The 35-year-old Jamaican hit two fours in Steyn’s first over as he and fellow opener Dwayne Smith, who will also play Friday, put on 51 for the first wicket inside the opening six overs. Gayle swung at almost everything as he made his runs off 24 balls, with two sixes and five fours before Steyn pounced for the wicket. In the preceding two-match Twenty20 series, Gayle hit 77 on the back of the fastest ever half-century in the format at Centurion and then blasted 90 off 41 balls in the second game at the Wanderers where the West Indies achieved a world record run-chase.
Steyn did not play in those T20s but he will need to step up his game with Philander set to miss Friday’s game with a hamstring injury. (in pic) and Dale Steyn last faced each other when West Indies toured South Africa in January.
Steyn has dismissed Gayle just once in eight games.