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FIVE CRICKETERS OF THE YEAR The Five Cricketers of the Year represent a tradition that dates back in Wisden to 1889, making this the oldest individual award in . The Five are picked by the editor, and the selection is based, primarily but not exclusively, on the players’ influence on the previous English season. No one can be chosen more than once. A list of past Cricketers of the Year appears on page 1508. sNB. Cross-ref

NEIL MANTHORP

Hashim Amla enjoyed one of the most productive tours of ever seen. In all three formats he was prolific, top- in eight of his 11 international . His triple- in the First Test at was as career-defining as it was nation-defining: he was the first South African to reach the landmark. It was an epic, and the fact that it laid the platform for a famous series win marked it out for eternal fame. By the time he added another century, in the Third Test at Lord’s, he had edged past even as the England craved most. Amla produced yet another hundred in the one-day series, at Southampton, prompting coach to purr: “The pitch was extremely awkward, the very good. To make 150 out of 287 rates it very highly, probably in the top three one-day innings for .” Accolades kept coming his way as the year progressed; by the end, he had scored 1,950 runs in all internationals, at an average of nearly 63. Inevitably, there was much talk of his heritage and its historical significance. But Amla, a 30-year-old, third-generation South African, downplays the situation without demeaning it. “The post-apartheid era has been around for a long time, so we are accustomed to seeing people of all races representing South Africa,” he says. “I understand that older generations may find some satisfaction in my achievements, but it is not a factor for me or the team. We were just little boys when Nelson Mandela was released from prison.” A simple question reveals his essence: does he see himself as a role model? “You are a role model as an international sportsman. The only choice is whether you are a good or a bad one. I would like to be a good one.” And Amla means to be a role model to everyone, irrespective of colour, creed or religion. On the subject of natural talent, a condition he is accused of possessing with every new example of genius, he smiles knowingly: “There’s no for hard work. Even those players who make it look easy, they all train hard. There’s such a thing as natural talent, and no such thing as natural success.” Minor frailties in his technique were exposed when he made a false start to his international career back in 2004-05. He played round his front pad, and was dropped after two Tests at home to England amid whispers of tokenism.

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 Five Cricketers of the Year 119 3rd proof He also struggled against the short ball, and spent close to 100 hours in Kingsmead’s indoor school facing thousands of bouncers from a bowling machine at full pace. After 15 Tests, he averaged 25 – a figure he has since doubled. That was not, as Amla says, a of natural talent. And yet he clearly has something. Whereas others see fielders, Amla sees gaps. It accounts for his occasionally extraordinary shot selection, such as leaping towards cover and flicking decent deliveries through the leg side from outside off stump. “Sometimes you need to hit the ball where the bowler doesn’t want you to,” he says, trying hard not to sound confrontational. “I’m sure it does upset bowlers, but that’s not my aim. I just want to score runs.” The wrist skills which characterise his -making are not, in fact, a legacy of his Indian heritage. His grandparents emigrated from Gujarat 60 years ago, but his blood is “South African green”, and his subcontinental skills are all self-taught. It is Amla’s ability to manoeuvre himself, at times un- Nothing to them, obtrusively, into unorthodox positions that makes earthquake to his batsmanship appear less outrageous than it really is. Only the most discerning observe his ability to toy with social historian the bowler and create scoring opportunities. The off- stump guard he took to during the Oval Test was a classic of the genre; by the end of the series, Swann was bowling without a . HASHIM MAHOMED AMLA, born in on March 31, 1983, encounters awe on a regular basis, but he does not encourage it. Awe, he feels, should be reserved for those with a special dispensation in life, not for a cricketer who – like him – happens to lead a simple existence according to the principles of his religion. He does not enjoy the spotlight, nor when his cricket is linked to his Muslim faith. He sees his religion, personality and cricket as existing concurrently, but separately, and finds it peculiar that people should seek a special explanation for his ability to cope with, say, the tension of a Lord’s century or a steepling catch in the deep with a series at stake. Amla’s Twitter lexicon is more Durban hipster than cricketer: were he not a batsman, he’d be a surfer. sNB. Signpost His aura and influence within the team are as profound as they are unintended. The way he goes about his daily life has changed the perspective of team-mates. On tour, Morne Morkel has been known to appease his own stresses and strains just by spending time in Amla’s hotel room. An Afrikaner in the room of a Muslim: nothing to them, earthquake to social historians. Even the traditional drinkers in the squad adore Amla for his non-judgmental approach. Despite refusing to wear the logo of the national sponsor – Castle Lager – he thoroughly endorses personal choice. He has gone out of his way to make team-mates aware he is neither disapproving nor uncomfortable when they celebrate victories in the traditional way. Captaincy is a tricky subject. He’s very good at it, and everyone wants him to do it, but he’s only reluctantly willing, not keen. Amla understands the political expediency and other benefits of occupying a position of national leadership. But he also understands his game well enough to know that the most likely result is fewer runs. He was Under-19 when South Africa

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 120 Comment 3rd proof were beaten by Australia in 2002, and had the captaincy of KwaZulu-Natal thrust upon him at the age of 21. The first worked, the second didn’t. A glorious 2012 has left him thinking of nothing but the next innings. “Things have a way of sorting themselves out. For now I am simply loving the game. This Wisden honour is very, very special. I do not regard myself in the same company as many previous winners.” The modesty would have England’s bowlers ruefully shaking their heads.

RICHARD LATHAM

When Somerset declared on 512 for nine against Worcestershire on the penultimate day of the , Nick Compton was on 155 and six runs adrift of a first-class average of 100. This was a feat only four men had achieved in an English summer since the war (five, if you include Australian tailender Bill Johnston, who was dismissed once in 17 innings in 1953). In the event, he ended up settling for a first-class average of 99.60 and – in case sceptics wondered whether his stats had been misleadingly massaged by a huge 236 against Cardiff MCCU at the start of April – a Championship figure of 99.25. Among batsmen who had played at least ten innings, that average placed him 26 runs ahead of the next best. His first-class tally of 1,494 runs was 280 more than second-placed , a Somerset team-mate – despite Compton missing three matches with a back injury. It was a gargantuan effort in a summer which, certainly in the matches played before the break for cricket in mid-June, was tailor-made for . The fact that he had missed out on another statistical landmark earlier in the season barely seemed to matter. Compton had been robbed by rain of the chance to become the first player since in 1988 to score 1,000 runs before the end of May, having chalked off nine of the 59 needed against Worcestershire at New Road when the heavens opened on May 31. On June 1, he was finally out for 108. His early-season performances, which included 99 against Middlesex, 133 against Worcestershire and an unbeaten 204 against Nottinghamshire, had made their impression. In September, Compton’s immense powers of con- centration and exemplary technique won him the reward he most coveted: a place in England’s Test squad for the tour to , where he was an able lieutenant as ’s opening partner, even if the big score he craved eluded him. NICHOLAS RICHARD was born in Durban, South Africa, on June 26, 1983. His parents Richard – who played first-class cricket for Natal and was the son of England’s Denis – and Zimbabwean mother Glynis had backgrounds in public relations and journalism. Early education was at Clifton Preparatory School, Durban, and Compton made his first cricketing trip to England on a school tour aged 12. After periods at Hilton College and , where he played under Hashim Amla, the

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 Five Cricketers of the Year 121 3rd proof opportunity arose to study at Harrow on a sports scholarship. He immediately helped secure a first victory in 25 years Eton at Lord’s – “a magical day” – and by his third year he was captain, while also securing a contract with Middlesex. He began a social science degree at , but a persistent groin problem, which eventually led to surgery, curtailed his cricket; he never completed the course. Once fully fit, Compton took well to , and was a three-times winner of Middlesex’s Young Player of the Year award – named after his grandfather. In 2006, he scored 1,313 first-class runs and was selected for the England A tour to India and , working under – then a batting coach – at Loughborough. In Bangladesh, he topped the averages, and his career appeared to be blossoming. But a shock was around the corner. The following season he managed only 385 Championship runs, and was dropped by Middlesex. “It was a shattering experience,” he says. “I felt I was close to playing for England at the start of the summer, and being left out by Middlesex – unjustly, in my opinion – hit me hard. The next 14 months were really tough.” After only three Championship appearances in 2008, Compton decided to head to Australia during the winter to try to regain his confidence. In the summer of 2009 Compton regained a regular first-team place. It was then that Somerset stepped in. “Even though I had enjoyed a better season with Middlesex, I felt the time was right to cut my ties,” he says. “I wanted to push myself and play in the first division of the Championship.” Leaving London for the quiet of the West Country proved more taxing than Compton had expected. He struggled to fit into an established batting line-up, and found socialising difficult, admitting to feeling “pretty lonely at times”. Asked to be the rock which would allow more free-scoring players like , Hildreth, and to play their shots, he lost sight of natural strengths. “I found I was trying to impress the other batsmen, which made me feel pressurised,” he says. “After three months, I changed my whole mindset, concentrating more on occupying the crease, and my form improved.” In the winter, he played first-class and Twenty20 cricket in , enjoying success in both formats before returning to Taunton intent on forging a regular first-team place. A solid summer brought 1,010 Championship runs – only Trescothick made more for Somerset – including a top score of 254 against Durham at Chester-le-Street. “I was proud of that season. I felt I had put down a marker, and that only fine-tuning was necessary to bring further improvement.” That fine-tuning involved hours of the most arduous practice, both at Taunton and with his batting coach Neil Burns, the former wicketkeeper. Compton makes a habit of facing bowling machines set at 99mph for two- or three-hour sessions, having dimmed the lights in the indoor nets. “The aim is to make conditions as uncomfortable as possible and see how long I can maintain concentration. There is a fear factor, and it’s often very cold too. You get hit and there are times when you just want to walk away, but I figure if I can handle that, nothing in games is going to intimidate me.”

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 122 Comment 3rd proof While Compton is immensely proud of his grandfather’s achievements, he is very much his own man. Coming from a cricketing family, he had a bat in his hand from as early as he can remember, but he never received coaching from Denis. “He did offer me one piece of advice when I was playing in his back garden one day. My dad was giving me some underarm throwdowns, and my grandfather was sitting on his porch, probably sipping a port or brandy. I was tapping the ball back with a high elbow and he yelled out: ‘For God’s sake, hit the bloody thing!’” Jacques Kallis

CHRISTOPHER MARTIN-JENKINS

The best, most classical and most durable all-rounder of his generation, and arguably of all time, was the mighty difference between South Africa and England in the summer of 2012. His presence gave the tourists an enviable balance, leaving England – who dared not bat their wicketkeeper at No. 6 to accommodate an extra bowler – outgunned. Kallis’s implacable alliance with Hashim Amla made possible England’s humiliation at The Oval, where his unbeaten 182 was as easy to miss as any such score could be. He also with shrewdness and calculated venom, undermining England’s first innings with the vital of and , and swallowed fast, flying catches at second slip. Only a Lord’s century remained out of reach, though last summer he was not helped by two contentious decisions. Overall, he was for South Africa what he had been for at least 15 years: a pillar and a rock. At last, the claim in 2012 that he had never quite received the credit he deserved felt wrong; but the comparisons with Garfield Sobers did not. Born in on October 16, 1975, JACQUES HENRY KALLIS was quickly recognised as a special talent at his school, Wynberg Boys’ High, a couple of miles from Newlands, his spiritual home. Indeed, the school’s cricket field was renamed “The Jacques Kallis Oval” in 2009. He first played for his country, against England in the Durban Test of 1995-96, at the age of 20. Batting at No. 6, he made a single in a rain-ruined draw, and did not get a bowl, but his bit part proved misleading: other than a spell out of the Twenty20 side, he has been an essential selection ever since. That Oval hundred was the 43rd of his Test career (only has more), to go with 17 in one-day internationals. Injuries have been rare, perhaps because of a reminiscent of : sideways on, with the left arm leading, a full turn of a strong frame, and a surging follow-through. Like Jack Nicklaus, the greatest of golfers, he has kept extraordinary command of his emotions, his expression inscrutable until he takes another wicket or reaches another century. Then a wide smile lights his even wider face. He has been a model not just of batting and bowling technique, but of the game’s chivalrous spirit: England recall Kallis walking at a crucial moment in a World Cup game at Chennai in 2011, having accepted the fielder’s word that

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 Five Cricketers of the Year 123 3rd proof a potentially contentious slip catch had carried. Yet he is as intensively competitive as anyone. He is, in fact, driven by his will to succeed. Massive strength and a temperament as cool as an igloo have made him the most consistently formidable all-round cricketer since the era of Botham, Imran, Hadlee and Kapil – and, like them, Kallis has done things his own way. He ascribes his longevity to managing his fitness: “I’ve always tried to listen to my body and pick up early warning signs. In the early days I trained all day and bowled in the nets. I was in my mid-twenties when I realised I had to change.” As a batsman he quickly learned to switch off between deliveries; a monumental calm has always pervaded his cricket. Once set, often from the first ball, he looks unmovable, as he confirmed during his unbroken stand of 377 with Amla. Impressive rather than exciting, and utterly orthodox, he rarely looks hurried; his bat appears broader than the Laws allow. Only his strike- rate has drawn criticism: just occasionally, he has seemed wrapped up in personal battles, and once or twice in mid-career he failed to produce the gear- change his team needed. His omission from the 2007 World Twenty20 may have focused the mind, for barely a week after the tournament he dominated ’s Test bowlers on their notoriously slow pitches, scoring 155 and 100 not out at , then 59 and 107 not out at Lahore. Soon after, at home to , he scored 186 and 131 in successive innings. To select from his achievements feels invidious, but a few feats capture him best. In 2001-02, he went 1,241 minutes – nearly 21 hours – between Test dismissals. Two years later, he made centuries in five successive Tests, one short of ’s record. Depicted by some, at times fairly, as a reluctant bowler, he finished the England tour with 555 international wickets, to say nothing of 319 catches. Short but intensive preparation has been vital to these insatiable performances. “The key,” he explains, “is to treat every ball you bowl or face as if it’s the real thing. With that intensity you can do your preparation in 20 balls rather than an hour or two. I learned a long time ago that physical preparation for international cricket takes place a long time before the match. It’s mental preparation that counts on the eve of the match. “I’ve never had to question my motivation, never questioned the reason I go to work every day. I stay fresh by getting as far away from cricket as possible between tours and games. I don’t watch any cricket and I certainly don’t talk about it.” His escape to private life is easier in Cape Town than it would be if home were Kolkata or Mumbai. “I prefer to play golf than watch cricket,” he admits. “I do whatever I can to make the game feel fresh again the next time I play.” And his willingness to muck in was exemplified when, as part of a team- bonding exercise before the England tour, Kallis – who loathes heights – jumped ten feet into an Alpine lake. How much longer Kallis will devote to the game is, inevitably, uncertain. The calamitous ending to the career of , his close friend, gave him reason to consider his future early in the England tour. But Gary Kirsten,

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 124 Comment 3rd proof long a team-mate and now the national coach, has a plan. After managing Sachin Tendulkar’s cricketing autumn while coaching India, Kirsten hoped he could persuade Kallis to play at the 2015 World Cup. It would be a record- equalling sixth, and he would be 39. Whenever he does decide to call it a day, cricket will have lost a true phenomenon.

Marlon Samuels

TONY COZIER

The transformation of from troubled underachiever to elite performer read like a Hollywood script. The steady improvement of West Indies after years of similar frustration was no coincidence. Together they served as a reminder that, for all the headlines gathered by Samuels’s fellow Jamaican Usain Bolt and the other Caribbean medallists at the London Olympics, it was cricket that first established the region’s reputation for sporting excellence. The performances of Samuels in England surprised many, if not the man himself. In three Tests, he failed to pass 50 only once in five innings, averaged more than 96, and made the stump mike essential listening with his ice-cool rejoinders to the . More runs at home to New Zealand soon after confirmed this was no fluke and, by the time he was winning the World Twenty20 final almost on his own, he had established himself in the upper echelons of global batsmanship. A maiden Test double-hundred followed in Bangladesh. It was some turnaround – and only a little of the sheen was removed when he became involved in a petty altercation with in Australia’s Big Bash League early in 2013. Fast-tracked into the Test team at the age of 19 after only seven first-class matches, Samuels was restricted to 29 caps and an average of 29 over the next eight years because of his cavalier approach. He was also forced to remedy his flawed off-spinner’s action. When he was found guilty of links with a Dubai- based bookmaker ahead of a one-day international at Nagpur in January 2007, and banned for two years, even from , the feeling was that Samuels – who protested his innocence – might have been swayed towards another profession. His good looks and lithe physique had already earned him work as a male model. Instead, the affair stiffened his resolve. “All I ever wanted to do was play international cricket and make a name for myself,” he says. “The two years that were taken away enabled me to look at myself. I never thought of quitting. I made up my mind that I was going to come back and show them that nothing could break me that easily.” He adopted a rigorous routine. Morning work in the gym from eight to 11 was followed by afternoon sessions in the nets against the bowling machine or willing friends, then yoga in the evening. Though never a heavy drinker, he gave up alcohol altogether. His suspension ended in May 2010, and his form in the Caribbean’s regional four-day competition the following year (853 runs

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 Five Cricketers of the Year 125 3rd proof at 65) guaranteed a swift recall to international cricket. He inevitably took time to readapt, and even turned down the chance to play at the 2011 World Cup, telling the selectors he was “not 100% ready”. And there were further problems when he signed belatedly for Pune ahead of the 2012 , knowing the tournament clashed with a home Test series against Australia. But the West Indies Cricket Board agreed to his suggested compromise – skip Australia, play the first half of the IPL, then rejoin his international team- mates in England. His reason for preferring the chill of a northern spring to the challenge of facing Australia on home territory revealed an ambition not previously obvious: “England, not Australia, were the No. 1 team at the time, and I felt that, if I could dominate against them, it would push me closer to being No. 1 in the world.” Immediately, it became clear this was no braggadocio. Scores of 31 and 86 at Lord’s, 117 and 76 not out at , and 76 at Edgbaston were compiled with the effortless elegance that had always typified his batting; now he came with diligence too. Two months later in the Caribbean, on the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence he made 123 in a first-innings total of 209 against New Zealand in his native Kingston, then carried West Indies to a 2–0 triumph with a second-innings 52. In October in Colombo, his breathtaking 78 off 56 balls paved the way for victory over in the final of the World Twenty20. No one – not even and his Gangnam Style dancing – embodied their renaissance better than Samuels. Those who remembered him as a boy prodigy were surprised only that his talents had taken so long to bear fruit. MARLON NATHANIEL SAMUELS, born in Kingston to Philip and Daphne on January 5, 1981, was nurtured at , one of Jamaica’s most renowned clubs, and Kingston College – a school with a rich sporting tradition and a cricket coach, Roy McLean, whom Samuels credits with first recognising, then shaping, his rare ability. He hoped one of the first initiatives of his new Marlon Samuels Foundation would be to renovate Kingston College’s facilities. His parents had no special love for cricket, but he and his four brothers (plus three sisters) enjoyed the advantage of living within walking distance of Melbourne, where they could rub shoulders with and . Robert, the eldest, and ten years Marlon’s senior, was a solid left-handed opener who went on to captain Jamaica and play six Tests, against New Zealand and Australia in the late 1990s. Twins David and Daniel were useful club players. But Marlon was the special one. By the age of 15, he had reeled off 16 hundreds for college and club, and Jamaica included him in their Red Stripe Cup side a year later, with Walsh captain and Robert an opener. But dismissed for two and one on debut, Marlon was immediately consigned to the youth team. The West Indies selectors were more convinced, though, picking him for two successive Under-19 World Cups, and two matches against the touring Pakistanis in 1999-2000. When succumbed to injury on the tour of Australia later that year, Samuels was summoned. They might as well have tossed him to the saltwater crocs. sNB. Signpost

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 126 Comment 3rd proof But their hunch was justified: in his second Test, at the MCG, he made an unbeaten 60 out of 165, then 46 out of 109. He would beat even to the top of West Indies’ series averages. Wisden remarked on his “impressive cool”. But in the years ahead there was too much cool and not enough substance. , then the travelling chief selector, wanted to send him home from a tour of India in 2002-03 for breaking the team curfew. The board disagreed, and at he scored his maiden Test hundred in his only innings of the series. His first one-day international century quickly followed, at Vijayawada. Yet Samuels soon dissolved into irritating inconsistency. And he was perplexed and unsettled by it all. “I never knew when I’d be playing from one match to the next, so I couldn’t plan my game as I wanted,” he says. “I kept hearing I was left out for some attitude problem, but they never explained to me what it supposedly was. I just kept on hearing that I was too cool, too laid back.” It was no coincidence that he approached his best in South Africa, in 2007- 08, almost as soon as Gayle, a compatriot and trusted friend, took over the captaincy. Samuels compiled his second Test hundred, at Durban, and averaged 52. Then in quick succession came the problem with his action and the ICC ban. His future was in obvious doubt. Yet his spirited resurrection ensures it no longer is.

TELFORD VICE

It took a girl of no more than ten years old to cut to the chase of what it means to be Dale Steyn. “How do you manage to have fun and look so angry at the same time?” she asked him earnestly at a sponsor’s farewell before South Africa flew to Australia late in 2012 to defend the No. 1 ranking earned so emphatically in England a couple of months previously. How indeed? Not for Steyn the despising sneer of , ’s brooding brow or ’s cool detachment from the blood-in- the-boots business of . Instead, like some demented cartoon elf, Steyn’s eyes flash frequently with dark wonder at the fact that he is armed with a skill that could kill. Everyone who faced him in South Africa’s Test series in England survived to tell the tale, but only in a manner of speaking. Fifteen times he dismissed his quarry. And he did so as he always has, with deliveries that seemed almost unfair. How could they swing so sharply at such extreme pace? Their violence was clinical, just like his career strike-rate of 41 balls per wicket – bettered only by four men, including team-mate , in Test history. Two other factors played a part as well. One was the almost other-worldly experience undergone by Steyn and the rest of the squad before the tour, with South African explorer Mike Horn in the Swiss Alps. Clambering over mountains and glaciers, they appeared to stumble across aspects of their characters they never knew existed. The other was the cruel fate of Mark

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 Five Cricketers of the Year 127 3rd proof Boucher, whose career was ended when a bail hit him in the eye on the first day of the trip, at Taunton. “Going to Switzerland was a revelation for us, and the Mark Boucher incident left a deep impression,” says Steyn. “I probably realised things aren’t as bad on the cricket field as I sometimes make them out to be.” In short, reality bit like it had rarely bitten before. They stopped being a mere team, becoming instead a band of men united in a cause. “Something changed,” he says. “I definitely saw that. There’s great bonding and camaraderie between the guys, and it Quite simply, he showed in England. We can handle those tough times because we can overcome them.” looked the It was earlier on that fateful day at Taunton that world’s best fast Steyn laid down his marker for the bigger battle to come. He took the new ball, and his first bowler hooked away wickedly from Arul Suppiah’s bat. Steyn completed his follow- through with a forlorn raise of the hand, as if to say: “If only he was good enough to get an edge.” Several of those who tangled with Steyn in the summer were indeed good enough – and they paid the price. After crucially halting England’s serene progress on the second morning of the series, at The Oval, he took five wickets in the second innings on a pitch still lacking demons, as South Africa dispelled bumptious English doubts about whether they belonged on the same field. Another four crashed in the first innings at Lord’s, among them the linchpin wickets of Alastair Cook and ; between them, the pair fell seven times to Steyn in the series. To see him slay another victim with what seemed an utter lack of effort was to see a man live up to his billing. Quite simply, he looked like the world’s best fast bowler, and performed accordingly. More than that, he looked as if he had been doing so for most of his life. He is, it has been said before and will be said again, a natural – a bundle of fast-twitch fibres and aggressive intent lurking in a body perfect for its role. It’s hard to imagine that DALE WILLEM STEYN was not already a fast- bowler-in-waiting when he was born on June 27, 1983, in Phalaborwa, a town of fewer than 13,000 souls, in the rural north-east of South Africa. But much needed to be done if he was to fulfil that destiny as spectacularly as he has. Throughout his career, he has been among the best conditioned of South Africa’s players; happily, serious injury has left him alone. But the confident, wisecracking athlete he would become is a far cry from the unsure young bowler he once was. Initially, Steyn seemed spooked by his own powers, hesitant to let fly with all the velocity he had at his disposal. This was most apparent in his first three Tests, against England at home in 2004-05. He bowled tentatively, taking eight wickets at 52. The eight no-balls he sent down in nine overs in England’s second innings at the Wanderers sealed his fate: he was dropped. Perhaps it was not the done thing for country kids to hold the spotlight on the world stage. It was certainly not the done thing for them to play cricket at a high level. But Phalaborwa is also a place of extremes: its open-cast copper

*** PRESS PDF Created on UBUNTU3 at 1 Mar 2013 at 13:6:2 *** 01.21 128 Comment 3rd proof mine is, at almost 2km across, Africa’s widest man-made hole, and summer temperatures reach 47˚C. Steyn’s confidence duly up with the rest of him. Soon, the man emerged in full. An important moment arrived shortly after lunch on the first day at Centurion against New Zealand in November 2007, when he put opening batsman Craig Cumming in intensive care with a delivery that hit him in the face and caused 23 fractures. Steyn made a cursory check on his prone opponent, turned on his heel, and went back to his mark to await his next target. In March 2008, in his 20th Test, Steyn reached 100 wickets more quickly than any South African. A month later, the ICC put him on top of their bowling rankings, where he has remained. He was also the ICC’s Test Player of the Year in 2008. Those are the prizes of his carefully aimed anger. Off the field, he has a penchant for retro trainers, fishing, and midnight dashes for ice-cream. That’s where the fun comes in. But don’t be fooled.

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