Dale Steyn would rather not play craps in the car park.
What he said:
“It’s got nothing to do about I’ll see you in the car park and we’ll beat the crap out of each other.”
Dale Steyn has not forgotten his war of words with the Australian skipper Michael Clark during the Newlands test in March this year.
In Zimbabwe later this year, Steyn said:
“I haven’t really spoken to him [Clarke] much since then to be honest. I don’t take many things personally, but what he did say to me I did take personally. I know he apologised in the media and I should be playing this down.
But the day he comes and shakes my hand and says, ‘I really mean what I said,’ and behaves like the way he should, maybe then I will (forgive him). But for right now, he’s not here so I’ll wait until I get to Australia.”
Steyn is still upset with Clark for what he considers a personal sledge.
The South African pacer said:
“I don’t think I can mention it over the air now”.
He added:
“[That’s] why I said if I see him we’ll have a normal chat between the two of us. It’s got nothing to do about I’ll see you in the car park and we’ll beat the crap out of each other. It’s got nothing to do with that man, maybe I just said too much in Zimbabwe.
The issue got blown out completely, it was like two schoolgirls the way the media got hold of it. I felt like Clarkey had his opportunity to say something at the end of the Cape Town Test and obviously I wasn’t in the press conference there and the next opportunity I got was a couple of months later in Zimbabwe so I said what I felt.
It wouldn’t have been fair if I’d said something straight after, I would have been called a sore loser after losing the series or the match so I just kept my mouth closed until it was my turn to say something. I didn’t want it to start a massive thing. It did, doesn’t matter. He’s not playing now. He’s obviously injured. Hopefully he gets well, he’s a great player and I think there’s enough respect from both of us, we’ve played against each other for long enough now and it’s just kind of got blown out of the water. It’s a bit silly really in all honesty.”
On the Aussies’ aggressive on-field appproach:
“Aussies are that kind of side they’re always in your face.I think of all the sides that play Test cricket in the world, the Aussies are always well known for being in your face kind of cricketers, kind of bullying teams and stuff like that. I don’t play my cricket like that personally.
I may look like that when I’m on the field and everything like that but I am a fast bowler, that’s just what you’ve got to do at the end of the day. I don’t quite agree with the way some of the things are done I think there’s a line. And I try to stay close to that line but never over-stepping it and if I do over-step it, I’ll be the first guy to put my hand up and say I’m sorry and go and do whatever I can to fix that.
Australia have always been that kind of side, so it doesn’t surprise me when they come hard or when somebody you’ve been a team-mate with before doesn’t greet you at breakfast, that’s just the way it is.”
A cricket shot from Privatemusings, taken at the third day of the SCG Test between Australia and South Africa. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What Steyn really meant:
“It’s a gentleman’s game, chaps, and I’m a sensitive guy. I can carry a chip on my shoulder for, let’s say how long it’s been now? Eight months?”
What he definitely didn’t:
“I’d rather bowl to him in the car park when he’s without his protective gear. That’s what car parks are good for—ambush territory.”
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