Steyn’s Donald regret

Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn says he would have loved to play alongside Allan Donald.

Johannesburg – Proteas fast bowler Dale Steyn says he would have loved to play alongside Allan Donald.

Steyn, with a Test bowling average of 22.53, lists his childhood idol Donald as one of the players he would most like to have teamed up with on the pitch.

Donald, 49, is one of two players post-readmission to boast a better Test bowling average than Steyn. Donald in 72 Test claimed 330 wickets at a remarkable average of 22.25, despite only making his debut at the age of 25 because of South Africa's isolation from international sport.

“In cricket, my dream team would definitely have included Allan Donald. I loved watching him when I was a kid and I would have loved to have shared a new ball with him. So he would be in my dream team,” said Steyn in a recent interview.

Steyn, 33, has been a stalwart for the South African attack since making his debut back in 2004.

In that time, Steyn has shared a dressing room with some of the greats of South African cricket including Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Graeme Smith.

If there was on regret the fast bowler had, he said it was not soaking up as much information from the senior players early in his career. “I guess the only thing I would have suggested to my younger self is to hang around the super stars a lot more. Jacques, Mark, Graeme, I am good friends with them now, but I would have loved to have picked their brains earlier in my career.”

Steyn is currently playing T20 cricket in the Caribbean Premier League for the Tallawahs. Steyn would be hopeful of being fit to earn a place in the Proteas team next month when New Zealand travel to South Africa for a two-Test series. - African News Agency (ANA)