Dale Steyn has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, bringing the curtains down on an illustrious 18 years of professional career.
‘Today I officially retire from the game I love the most. Bitter sweet but grateful,’ tweeted Steyn. ‘And it's been a long December and there's reason to believe. Maybe this year will be better than the last I can't remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.’
Steyn, 38 now, picking up 439 wickets – the most by a South African in Test cricket – in 93 games at an average of 22.95. He is acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of the century. He also played 125 ODIs and 47 T20Is for South Africa, taking 196 and 64 scalps respectively.
After Kagiso Rabada (41.2), Steyn has the second-best strike rate (42.3) among bowlers with 200 Test wickets. He had retired from Test cricket in 2019 to focus more on limited-overs cricket. However, he had only played three T20Is since then.