Dale Steyn rues modern day bowlers' woes as he labels Australia's ball-tampering saga a 'cry for help'

Sport360 staff 16:58 30/07/2018
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  • Steyn has spoken out against the imbalance between bat and ball.

    South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has spoken out against the imbalance between bat and ball in the modern game. The fast-bowling great has even gone as far to call Australia’s attempt to tamper with the ball during their tour of South Africa this year as a ‘cry for help’.

    The Proteas pacer recently equalled Shaun Pollock’s tally of 421 Test wickets to become his country’s all-time leading wicket-taker in the format and he believes that the game needs to take steps to aid the bowlers.

    “It’s obviously not on (Australia’s ball-tampering attempt), but if you think about it, it’s almost like a cry for help. We need to do something,” Steyn told Reuters in an interview.

    “There’s so much in favour of batsmen these days. Fields are small, two new balls, powerplays, bats have got bigger than they used to be, the list can go on. You bowl a ‘no ball’ and it’s a free hit. But I have never seen a rule change that favours the bowler.”

    That reverse swing is a dying art has been touched upon by legends of the game such as Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis in recent times and Steyn agrees with that sentiment.

    Steyn believes that reverse swing is dying art.

    Steyn believes that reverse swing is dying art.

    “It’s a big plea and it would be a sad day to see (reverse swing) disappear. I grew up watching (Wasim) Akram, I grew up watching Waqar and all these geniuses run in and reverse swing the ball. And you just don’t see it today. What inspiration will other fast bowlers have if they don’t have anybody to inspire them to become fast bowlers? You might as well put a bowling machine there and everyone try and become a batter,” the 35-year-old said.

    Like Tendulkar, Steyn believes that the two new-balls rule in ODIs needs to be abolished to restore the balance.

    “They changed the rule and said we will bring two new balls into the game. I don’t want a new ball when I am bowling in the subcontinent. I want an old ball that can’t get hit out of the ground. I want a ball that when I bowl doesn’t have true bounce, so that the batsman can’t hit it. These are not rules that favour the bowler at all. They are, if anything, add to the batsman,” said the pacer.

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