Dale Steyn on international retirement: Bittersweet, but grateful

Resembling a work of art when in full flight with his wicked swing and toecrushing yorkers alltime pace great Dale Steyn on Tuesday announced his retirement from cricket with an impeccable record and a legacy to bootCricket will be poorer without the rhythmic runup and an action that was all about grace for there was no better sight in current cricket than watching Steyn striding in and attacking the batsmenThe South African made the announcement on Twitter ending a 17year career which saw him play in 93 Tests 125 ODIs and 47 T20Is and pick 439 196 and 64 wickets respectively for the ProteasEmotional noteldquoToday I officially retire from the game I love the most Bittersweet but grateful Thank you to everyone from family to teammates journalists to fans itrsquos been an incredible journey togetherrdquo he wroteldquorsquoAnd itrsquos been a long December and therersquos reason to believe Maybe this year will be better than the last I canrsquot remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they passrsquordquo Steyn wrote in his retirement letter quoting a song from American rock band Counting Crows to convey his emotionsldquoItrsquos been 20 years of training matches travel wins losses strapped feat jet lag joy and brotherhood There are too many memories to tell To many faces to thank So I left it to the experts to sum up my favourite band the Counting Crowsrdquo he addedShoulder breakdownSteyn who retired from Test cricket in 2019 with an eye on limitedovers formats last played an international in February 2020mdasha T20I against Australiamdashbut has had constant runins with injuries over the last few years especially after a careerthreatening shoulder breakdown during South Africarsquos tour of Australia in November 2016The pacer was initially included in South Africarsquos squad for the 2019 World Cup but had to pull out without playing a match due to a shoulder problemHe still had an eye on the ICC T20 World Cup last year before that tournament was postponed due to the COVID19 pandemicHe played in T20 franchise leagues thereafter including the Pakistan Super League in March this year He also pulled out of the IPL but insisted he wasnrsquot retiringHowever on Tuesday he brought his career to a close quoting lines from A Long DecemberAfter starting his representative cricket career in 2003 in a firstclass match for Northerns Steyn got his South Africa cap the following year in a Test against England at Port ElizabethSteyn made his ODI debut for Africa XI against Asia XI in 2005 at Centurion His best figuresmdash6 for 39mdashcame in Port Elizabeth against Pakistan in 2013 His last ODIwas against Sri Lanka in 2019 while the T20I against Australia in February last year turned out to be his last international fixtureInjury battlesSteynrsquos career was a story of battle with injuries In December 2015 he injured his shoulder in the Durban Test against England and was ruled out for the rest of the rubber Having gone under the knife to fix his coracoid a shoulder bone he again injured it during the Perth Test against Australia in 2016 Steyn returned for the Test series against India in 2018 only to sustain a heel injury in Cape Town439No of wickets claimed by Steyn in Tests the most by a South African699Total number of international wickets taken by Dale SteynAlso Read Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu I couldve won goldThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliabilitsy and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever