Rested Steyn in Proteas' best interests

Dale Steyn sees his regular absence from the Proteas T20 side -- apart from at the ICC World T20 -- as part of his commitment to the long-term success of the Proteas in the shortest version of the game and remains convinced that is in everyone’s interests that he plays sparingly for his country.
“I play a lot of IPL and I come up against international batsmen in every game, so I’m not short of game time or practice. The reason I don’t play is because of the amount of ODI and test cricket I play. And if I did then guys like Parnie (Wayne Parnell) and Lopsy (Lonwabo Tsotsobe) wouldn’t be getting the game time they deserve,” Steyn said.
Steyn has never made a secret of h
ow much he enjoys T20 cricket -- and he admitted again after Saturday’s seven-over match against Sri Lanka that bowling just two overs was “a pleasure.”
“You can give it your all, focus all your energy on every single ball. Then your job is done -- apart from the catching and fielding!”
His opening overs against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka, in which he conceded just one and three runs respectively, set an irreversible trend for both innings.
We played on some seriously slow wickets in England which we thought would be good preparation for Sri Lanka but, ironically, the wickets here have had a bit of pace and bounce. So we are well adjusted to any conditions that we may get. If we get something which is low and slow then it certainly won’t be a train smash,” Steyn said.
Of the 48-hour ‘break’ the squad took at a luxury beach resort en route to Colombo, Steyn was unequivocal: “We’ve been on the road for…how long? 90 days? It’s highly important that you find time to get away from it all, even just for a couple of days.
“It’s the same in any job, everybody needs a weekend away. One thing is certain -- three more days of training is not going to make us a better team, not after three months on the road. It is a well deserved and much needed break. Paddy (Upton) and Gary (Kirsten) have done a great job of finding time for us to get away and refresh ourselves,” Steyn said.