Dale Steyn’s poor overseas record has cost South Africa ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 journey

South Africa's biggest disappointment in the pace department has probably been Steyn.

Over the past few years South Africa have relied on their pace trio of Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn and Morkel, not necessarily in that order. However, Steyn has performed considerably below par when compared with the other two in overseas conditions. Sudatta Mukherjee explains how South Africa may have lost the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 journey for relying on Steyn too much.

In the last two years, South Africa have played 54 One-Day Internationals (ODIs), of which they have won 32 and lost 19. Out of the 54, they have 42 matches away from, winning 24 and losing 16. Since October 2014, South Africa have played 16 matches in New Zealand and Australia including the eight in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. READ: Why cry for South Africa?

Of the 16, South Africa were able to defend their targets on five occasions — against New Zealand, Zimbabwe, West Indies, Ireland and UAE. In those five matches, the opposition teams were beaten largely due to the South African’s batsmen’s destruction with the willow. Seldom have their bowlers been put under pressure. READ: New Zealand vs South Africa ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Semi-Final: South African innings highlights

South Africa has been over-reliant on their main pace trio. In the build up to ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, a lot of eyes were on how South African pacers will perform and how the Australian and New Zealand pitches will support them. The trio has not really done anything remarkable in the World Cup, and of the three, the biggest disappointment has probably been Steyn.

South African bowlers in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015

A lot was said on how Steyn will wreck havoc on the batsmen. However, that has not been the case. Moreover, in the last two years, in overseas conditions, Steyn has performed below par when compared to Philander, Morkel and even Wayne Parnell. Steyn ranks third from bottom in bowling averages in overseas conditions against major nations.

South African bowlers against Test nations (barring Zimbabwe and Bangladesh) in past two years

Steyn’s best performance in the past two years came in Zimbabwe at Harare, when he registered 4 for 34 during the tri-series against Australia and Zimbabwe. Outside Africa his best had come against Pakistan at Abu Dhabi, where he returned figures of 5 for 25. However, if compared to his figures in South Africa in the last two years, Steyn averages 9.09 in the last two years at an economy rate of 3.45.

He has played eight matches in Australia in the last two years, but he averages 27.75 and has an economy rate of 4.84. In New Zealand he played six matches and the average is 30.33. This clearly proves that Steyn in no way is South Africa’s premier bowler outside the nation, much contrary to the popular belief.

Someone like Morkel has a much better average and has provided much better performance. He has played 17 ODIs outside South Africa in the last two years and averages better than Steyn at 27.44.

It remains question whether AB de Villiers could have played Kyle Abbott in place of Philander or Steyn in the match against New Zealand.  Abbott has performed quite well in the four matches he has played, and sports a better economy rate than all the other South African bowlers in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

It is high time that people realise Steyn has not been effective at all outside South Africa. Remember the Shikhar Dhawan hitting Steyn for a six and four on consecutive balls in the match against India at MCG and then Mohammed Shami hitting Steyn for four in the final over of the Indian innings?

(Sudatta Mukherjee is a reporter with CricketCountry. Other than writing on cricket, she spends penning random thoughts on her blog. When she is not writing, you will catch her at a movie theatre or watching some English television show on her laptop. Her Twitter handle is @blackrosegal)

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