Mirpur rekindles Dale Steyn's fire

Dale Steyn would like everybody to just "shut up," about his new hairdo, to stop pre-empting how much longer he will play, because "if I am fit and I am strong I will bowl all day." He wants to cut his team-mates a bit of a break because they are playing in "really difficult conditions to bat and bowl" in Bangladesh, but those frustrated phrases are all just a facade. Steyn is actually having the time of his life.

"I love what I am doing right now, even if it's in 40 degree heat and the ball is staying ankle high and it's not bouncing and there's no seam and it's very slow. Shit, I love it. I would rather be here than anywhere else right now," Steyn said.

Just a week ago, Steyn looked like he would rather be anywhere else. He struggled for success in Chittagong and looked a shadow of the seamer who could charm even subcontinent surfaces. It all seemed to be getting too much. Steyn was shattered after South Africa's World Cup semi-final defeat and sullen through an IPL in which he warmed the bench more than he played. He sneered that he did not want to "waste" the deliveries he had left on an ODI series in Bangladesh and has now admitted he needed some space to sort himself out.

"There was a period after the IPL when I actually didn't want to have a ball in my hand. I just needed maybe two or three weeks - maybe four weeks - just to get that love back again. I said before coming here that sometimes if you don't have that love or passion for the game, things kind of don't go your way," he explained. "And then when you have got it you just don't want to let it go. I just love being on the field right now."

Was the romance rekindled by his new record - fastest to 400 wickets in terms of balls and joint second in terms of matches? "No, it's was not really different to any of the other wickets I've taken, to be honest," Steyn said of Tami Iqbal's nicking off. "It's nice to have the numbers but I've had a lot better moments in my cricketing career. But it's cool - it's nice to have 400."

It was nicer to be able to let his hair down. "It's pretty cool to take a wicket and get the headband off and the hair out. I think I've taken some abuse about my hair. Funnily enough, it doesn't influence the bowling at all. So, I guess, shut up."

Floppy fringes have not been known to have much of an impact on fast bowlers and on Thursday, that was more evident than ever before. A few hours after Steyn celebrated his milestone, Mitchell Johnson picked up his 300th and Steyn had words of praise for his Australian counterpart's approach.

"Mitch is a scary bowler," Steyn said. "I think he is one of those guys who are never going to be a line and length bowler. His captain is never going to ask him to run in and just hit a line and length. He's going to bowl fast, he's going to scare you and he's going to get you out like that. He's going to make you make a mistake because of his pace.

"I think that's why he bowls well against England - because they don't like him. Even when he is bowling badly, they still don't like facing him, and he still going to get wickets. That's his strength; that he is quite a scary guy to face regardless of his pace. He is quite an intimidating bloke with his long moustache."

Sounds a little like Steyn himself, but if you think that means the South Africa would want Johnson in his strike force, think again. When asked who he thought was better than Johnson, it took Steyn a split-second to reply. "Vernon Philander." He didn't add a "shut up," afterwards, but it was probably implied.

Steyn's dominance has partly come down to his the men at his side, who he is happy to share his success with. "Overall as a bowling unit, we are looking to get 20 wickets and so far we are doing quite well. I would have been very happy if I had taken just one wicket in my international career. And I managed to get 400. I never thought that that would happen. Ever in my life."

No wonder he is having such a good time.