Australia’s opening batter, David Warner, reflected on his cricketing journey, singling out Dale Steyn as the toughest bowler he has ever faced. Warner, who is set to retire from Test cricket after the upcoming match against Pakistan at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), on January 3, recalled a challenging face-off with the Proteas legend at WACA, Perth.
In that intense session at WACA, facing Steyn alongside Shaun Marsh, Warner vividly remembered the difficulty of dealing with Steyn’s deliveries.
“Without doubt it’s Dale Steyn. I go back to the WACA (the first Test of the 2016-17 home series against South Africa) when me and Shaun Marsh had to go out for an ugly 45-minute session. Shaun came down to me and said, ‘I can’t pull him so I don’t know how we’re going to go about facing him’. He put me on my backside and I think he broke his shoulder as well that game,” he said.
Describing Steyn as a fierce competitor, Warner acknowledged his ability to swing the ball back into the left-hander, similar to the challenge posed by Mitchell Starc against the right-handed batters.
“He’s a fierce competitor who swung the ball back into the left-hander, which is similar to Mitchell Starc swinging the ball back into the right-hander at pace. He was always a fiery customer who never gave you a smile and never gave you an inch or a sniff on the field,” he added.
Steyn troubled Warner throughout his career. The South African speedster dismissed him on nine occasions in international cricket, including four times in Tests.
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