Dale Willem Steyn (/?ste?n/; born 27 June 1983) is a South African cricketer who plays in Tests, T20 Internationals and One Day International cricket for South Africa. Steyn plays domestic cricket in South Africa for Titans. He is a right-arm fast bowler, and can bowl at speeds of around 145–156 km/h (his fastest being recorded at 156.2 km/h during the 2010 IPL, Bangalore Royal Challengers against Kolkata Knight Riders). His fastest ball in international cricket was clocked at 155.7 km/h (96.8 mph) against New Zealand, making him tied for 4th fastest active bowler with Lasith Malinga as of 3 January 2015. Steyn held the record for the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets in Test Match cricket, a feat he achieved on 2 March 2008. Before Ravichandran Ashwin broke the record, Steyn held the record of taking the most number of wickets – 78 – in a home season, 2007–08.

Dale Steyn

Personal information
Born	(1983-06-27) 27 June 1983 (age 35) Phalaborwa, Transvaal Province, South Africa
Nickname	Steyn Remover, Steyn Gun, Phalaborwa Express
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Batting	Right handed
Bowling	Right arm fast
International information
National side	South Africa
Test debut (cap 297)	17 December 2004 v England
Last Test	20 July 2018 v Sri Lanka
ODI debut (cap 82)	17 August 2005 v Asia XI
Last ODI	12 October 2016 v Australia
ODI shirt no.	8
T20I debut (cap 31)	23 November 2007 v New Zealand
Last T20I	28 March 2016 v Sri Lanka
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2003–2004	Northerns
2004–2010, 2017–present	Titans (squad no. 8)
2005	Essex
2007	Warwickshire
2008–2010	Royal Challengers Bangalore (squad no. 2)
2011–2012	Deccan Chargers (squad no. 8)
2010–2017	Cape Cobras (squad no. 8)
2012	Brisbane Heat (squad no. 1)
2013–2015	Sunrisers Hyderabad (squad no. 8)
2016	Gujarat Lions
2016	Glamorgan
2016	Jamaica Tallawahs
2018	Hampshire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20I FC Matches 88 116 42 136 Runs scored 1194 298 15 1767 Batting average 13.72 8.27 3.00 13.80 100s/50s 0/2 0/0 0/0 0/4 Top score 76 35 5 82 Balls bowled 17707 5821 901 26282 Wickets 421 180 58 600 Bowling average 22.64 26.62 17.39 23.37 5 wickets in innings 26 3 0 35 10 wickets in match 5 n/a n/a 7 Best bowling 7/51 6/39 4/9 8/41 Catches/stumpings 23/- 26/- 11/- 30/-
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 23 September 2018

Steyn is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and often regarded as the greatest fast bowler of the century — subsequently deeming him one of the greatest cricketers to ever play the game. He currently has the best bowling strike rate of all time in Test match cricket (amongst bowlers who have bowled a minimum of 10,000 deliveries). Steyn achieved a tally of 78 wickets at an average of 16.24 in Season 2007/08 and was subsequently rewarded with the prestigious ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. He was named one of the Wisden cricketers of the year in 2013. He was named Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for the year 2013 in 2014 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.

Steyn dominated the number one spot in the ICC test rankings during the peak of his career, for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014. Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan sits next on the list with 214 weeks. In terms of days, Steyn has spent 2,356 days at the top as of 6 October 2016, the most by any bowler since World War II. In October 2012, former South African test cricketer Allan Donald called the South African pace attack, which Steyn was part of, alongside Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel, the best South Africa has ever produced. Steyn played a cameo as himself in the 2014 Hollywood film Blended. In July 2018 during the first test against Sri Lanka, Steyn became the joint leading wicket taker alongside Shaun Pollock for South Africa in test matches with 421.