Will ‘Burnley Express’ be fit in time for Cape Test?

IT WILL be a shame if the South African crowd doesn’t get to see the “Burnley Express” chugging in at some point in this Test series, in a swing-off against the wicket collector from Phalaborwa.

Both from small towns, James Anderson and Dale Steyn have left an equally giant footprint on their art. Just as South Africa privately cursed the loss of Steyn in India, so England will be concerned about their spearhead here.

Steyn, who wears his heart on an inked Protea on his arm, just about wept when he failed his fitness challenge before the final Test in Delhi, even after the series was lost. That South Africa were two, going on three down didn’t matter a bit to the “Phalaborwa Express”.

Even the current series against England wasn’t on his mind. All he wanted, all he craved, was his final Test memory of India to be something that mattered, instead of limping off in the first Test, and then watching helplessly.

The very best in the game don’t shy away from adversity.

They embrace it with relish, for it is that hardship that separates the men from the boys.

Steyn will never ever play another Test match in India, one of his favourite places in the world. And that hurt him, deeply.

Anderson didn’t cut quite a forlorn look in Maritzburg, and he certainly looked chipper in his new role as goalkeeper in the daily football matches the England squad plays.

After all, missing one Test match as a precaution is not nearly as bad as missing four.

Steyn was just as nonchalant after Mohali. Surely, he would be back in Bangalore.

And then he wasn’t. Nagpur? Still not right. Delhi, surely? Alas, it all came to a depressingly drippy end, but no one foresees these things.

England are handling Anderson with kid gloves, and just as well they should.

Like Steyn, he only has so many quality deliveries left in his legs, and they dare not waste those on emotional decisions. As brilliant as both Steyn and Anderson are, they are also becoming increasingly brittle.

Time, that dreaded enemy, erodes everything, even the effortless grace of two of the best we will ever see. Much is often made about the rivalry between Anderson and Steyn. It’s easy to see why, too.

Swing, speed and a raven- ous appetite for wickets at all hours are just a few of the fine traits they share, and they have both allowed their sides to stay in the conversation when it comes to Test cricket.

Though South Africa have bossed it with an infinitely better batting card over the last decade, Anderson’s bottomless bounty has meant that England have always been a threat.

On his day, he is every bit as irresistible as Steyn, long after he came into our consciousness with a wicked spell of swing bowling in a 2003 World Cup match in Cape Town, against Pakistan, of all purveyors of sorcery.

And 13 glorious years on, Anderson would hate to be nothing more than what he cheekily dubbed an ‘assistant bowling coach’ as he heads to the mountain for the last time.

Even those in the Proteas dressing room will hope his lay-off is but a once-off.

The best love taking on the best, because victory is all the sweeter for it. England will be a threat regardless, but the name of Anderson in the team sheet has the same effect as Steyn does in the next room.

They lift those around them, because they still have that priceless ability to make a mess of everything in one, magical spell. For the good of this series, for cricket even, one hopes that Anderson still has one last spell to cast in Cape Town.

After all, we will never, ever see him again. And that is not a pleasant thought…