Dale Steyn says his passion and hunger to win games for South Africa has been the pillar behind his reign as arguably the best fast bowler of his generation.

Steyn’s entry into the 400-wicket club is further testament to the brilliance and skill of the 32-year-old, who continues to raise the bar in the current era of Test cricket.

“I have never been a stats person,” he said about the achievement. “It’s nice to have these numbers but I have had a lot better moments in my cricketing career. Winning games for my country has always been objective number one so the jobs not over yet. It’s cool, it’s nice to have 400.”

“I want to play every game,” he said when asked about his next target. “I want to bowl again tomorrow and I want to bowl again the next time South Africa pick me. Anything can happen, I don’t set targets. I would’ve been happy if I had taken just one wicket in my international career. It’s enough to play for South Africa and take wickets for South Africa, and then I managed to get 400. I never thought that that would happen… ever in my life.”

Steyn praised the all-round effort from the bowlers in “difficult conditions”, more so the patience and pressure they exerted alongside renewed intensity and an attacking approach. He led the attack until the very last over of the day in true “Dale Steyn fashion”, an effort he says came easily because of his current state of mind.

“It was a good day for us,” he said to the media after the days play. “We always knew that once we get them to six down their lower order batters don’t tend to like hanging around, those are wickets we can wrap up quickly. It’s not wrapped up yet but that was the initial goal. Throughout the day we didn’t let them get away with the game.

“I love what I am doing right now, even if it’s in 40 degree heat and the ball is staying ankle high,” he said. “It’s (the ball) not bouncing and there’s no seam and it’s very slow, I would rather be here than anywhere else right now. There was a period (after the IPL) when I actually didn’t want to have a ball in my hand, I think I just needed maybe two or three weeks to get that love back again.”

Cricket South Africa congratulated Steyn on becoming the second South African after Shaun Pollock (421) and the 13^th of all time to join the exclusive 400 Test wickets club. He achieved the feat on the first morning of his 80^th Test match when he dismissed Bangladesh opening batsman, Tamim Iqbal, at Dhaka.

“Fantastic. Just fantastic!” commented CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat. “The statistics as always speak for themselves and one cannot compliment Dale enough. He is the joint second fastest to reach this mark in terms of matches played but he is by far the quickest in terms of balls bowled as his strike rate of 41.6 is far superior to anybody else. No other bowler in that category has a strike rate below 50.

“But there is far more to Dale’s success than pure statistics. His ability to bowl conventional swing at high pace and then switch to lethal reverse swing – he is one of the finest exponents of this latter art – combined with his superb control make him the world leader he has become for most of the past decade.

“The other quality of Dale we will always remember is the way he celebrates every wicket he takes and the intensity with which he does it. Those veins tell us exactly what it means to him to take a wicket for his country. He is truly a proud South African.

“With his skill and natural athleticism there is no reason why he cannot go on to achieve the 500 wickets mark (a mark achieved by only 5 other bowlers) and beyond.

“We have been incredibly fortunate in the quality of the leaders of our attack we have had since unity, starting with Allan Donald and followed by Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and now Dale, all of whom have taken more than 300 wickets.

“Congratulations, Dale,” concluded Mr. Lorgat.