It’s not easy to describe how much the World Test Championship win would have meant for South Africa, in particular the generations of all-time-great cricketers who had come through the ranks and gone through such long spells of disappointment and heartbreak. To watch Kyle Verreynne crash a shot through covers and confirm that the ICC Test Mace would be going back home to the Rainbow Nation was to ease the pain of decades of hurt, achieving a dream held and not realised by so many.
One such man was Dale Steyn, a legendary fast bowler and one of the best of all time, who never quite got close to lifting an ICC trophy. Steyn, on media duties for Star Sports, was overcome by pure emotion in the wake of those winning runs, rendered nearly speechless by what it meant to watch his country finally get over that hurdle.
In a video shared by the Star Sports social media handles, Steyn can be seen struggling to form words and fight back tears, before falling silent for an extended period as the realisation of the moment truly dawned on him.
“What do you do, what do you say? It’s incredible, I’m sitting at home, I’ve got my cap here, I’m extremely proud. I mean, what do you do? I’ll take my son for a walk and life will carry on,” said the fast bowler, lifting up his Proteas Test cap, before falling silent and welling up with emotion following the moment. It is evident how poignant a moment this is considered in South African cricket history.
Emotional day at Lord’s
Steyn wasn’t the only South African to feel the brunt of the moment, with Keshav Maharaj also fighting through tears of his own to speak to former captain Graeme Smith about how much it means to the country to get over the line after years of heartbreak, and repeatedly falling short of the ultimate glory.
At the end, it was Aiden Markram the hero with one of South Africa’s most famous Test centuries, assisted by Kagiso Rabada’s 9-fer, a man who is considered to be Dale Steyn’s successor in South Africa’s long list of fast bowling greats.
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