Steyn braced for Aussies

With the opening match of the ODI series between South Africa and Australia coming at the start of their respective summers, Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn (above) expects neither team to be 100% sharp but that won’t stop the usual competitive edge between the two great rivals from being there at the Optus Stadium in Perth tomorrow.

The hosts are trying to bounce back from the aftershocks of the Cricket Australia review into team culture in the wake of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, having lost their chairman and CEO in the fallout, as well as their team’s poor form against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates, but Steyn expects the Aussies will still have their usual swagger.

“It’s always a good spectacle when Australia play South Africa, we’re both highly competitive teams. We haven’t played competitive cricket for a while, with respect to Zimbabwe, those games were played in tough conditions and we just had the better bowling attack.

“So both teams have taken a step back because Australia didn’t have the greatest tour in the UAE and are trying to rebuild. So I think we’re evenly matched, although I don’t expect the best cricket. Australia are missing Steven Smith and David Warner, and AB de Villiers is obviously a very good player we’re without as well.

“It would have been nice to have this series later in the year when we’re both battle-hardened, in terms of form I think we’re both not going to be as hot as we’d like. But we’ve grown accustomed to how Australia play their cricket, they’re an in-your-face, aggressive team. So it will be interesting to see which direction they go,” Steyn said in Perth yesterday.

It was in Perth in November 2016 that Steyn’s serious injury problems started, as he walked off the field clutching his broken shoulder in his 13th over of Australia’s first innings in the first Test.