Dale Steyn wants to make a century
South African pacer Dale Steyn, whose injury problems have marred his playing time over the last year or so, hopes to complete a century in Test cricket by playing a 100 Tests.
The Protea speedster has played in 86 Tests and has picked up 419 scalps in that time. He might have crossed the century had it not been for his injury-laden last couple of years.
Nevertheless, the pacer admitted that while he loves to play in all formats, Test cricket is the holy grail for him.
“I’d love to play all formats. Like I said, I love playing cricket. I think Test cricket is the pinnacle. I’d love to try and play 100 Test matches, I don’t know whether I’ll get there. I’m at 86, so that’s about 14 more, but being a World Cup year, there’s a lot of white-ball emphasis right now. So I think we’ve only got five Tests until around this time next year,” he said.
With the World Cup arriving soon, the focus is on ODIs and according to the South African’s calculations, he will need to play another three years to reach the 100 mark – and he believes that he can do it.
“So if I’m going to look to play the 100 Test matches, I’m going to be around for the next three years. That’s 38. I think I can do it. The body seems fine. I’ve always been fit. It’s a mental thing. How long do you actually want to do it for,” Steyn added.
Steyn suffered an injury against India during the latter’s tour of South Africa in January and had to be out of action until June when he made a return to cricket by representing Hampshire against Southampton.
