Dale Steyn can energise Glamorgan and excite the fans, according to his fellow South African Jacques Rudolph.
Steyn plays his first game for Glamorgan on Wednesday night when he starts his T20 Blast stint with the county at home to Essex Eagles.
Having arrived in Cardiff last weekend, the hugely successful fast bowler will be looking to make an immediate impact and expectations should be high, says Rudolph.
“He’s a good friend of mine, we’ve played with and against each other for many years. He’s a great guy to have around the dressing room,” said the Glamorgan skipper.
“He’s very energetic, very humble and he also has lots of experience so it will be great to see him in the side for the Essex game.
“Timm van der Gugten has shown with a bit of extra pace the kind of X-factor we need in our team. With him and Dale in the same team, we can be really excited about that.”
Steyn arrived in Wales following his stint with the Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League, but he has been forced to watch from the sidelines over the last few months.
Steyn only played one match, back on April 21, which followed a T20 World Cup where he also didn’t feature much for the Proteas.
“I have played nine years of IPL so have almost seen it all,” said the 32-year-old.
“Our side was based with the Indians being our bowlers and our overseas players our batters. It falls you can only play four overseas in a game and unfortunately I had to sit on the sidelines.
“It gives you a different perspective because you always learn on and off the field. I got some training done and I have a couple of new tricks like slower balls. I’m raring to go, bowling fast and the body feels good.
“I just want to get back on the park and play some cricket. I will come over here with a lot of energy and do what I can to help this side be successful, on and off the field. Hopefully, we can really do well in the next month.”
Steyn will play the first of six T20 matches for Glamorgan in Cardiff after being rested by South Africa for the Caribbean Tri-series beginning this weekend in Guyana.
He swerved Cricket South Africa’s plan to hold him back for Test cricket and believes there’s little to be gained from an extended break before South Africa host New Zealand in August.
Instead, Steyn jumped at the opportunity to play under Glamorgan captain and former South Africa Test batsman Jacques Rudolph when fellow quick Morne Morkel pulled out of a stint with the county.
“Morne Morkel was supposed to come here and he got selected to go to the Caribbean and I was rested, but I just wanted to get out and play some cricket.
“He said ‘Maybe you should get hold of Jacques Rudolph because I was going to go to Glamorgan’, and within an hour I was on the phone to (Glamorgan chief executive) Hugh Morris, by the next day I was on my way to get a visa and here I am.
“I’m just excited to be here because I haven’t played a lot of cricket this year.”