Match-winner Steyn, and winless Windies

In the Johannesburg Test against Pakistan, Dale Steyn bagged the most inexpensive ten-for ever by a South African bowler in Tests: he gave away only 60 for his 11 wickets, which, in terms of runs conceded, was 31% lower than the next best, Peter Pollock's 10 for 87 against England in 1965. The win was the 33rd in Steyn's Test career, which is exactly as many as Allan Donald achieved in his career, but Steyn has 38 more wickets from those matches. That match-winning act was also a quick reminder that, after a slightly below-par 2012 - he took 39 wickets in ten Tests at 29.71 - he is back at his best in 2013.

South Africa's bowling attack has several go-to options, especially since the meteoric rise of Vernon Philander over the last year, but Steyn still remains the main act. When he bowls well and is among the wickets, the match result is seldom anything other than a South African win. Steyn's bowling average in the 33 Test wins that he has been a part of is a stunning 15.79; in the 30 Tests that South Africa have either drawn or lost, Steyn has only managed 98 wickets at 38.48.

As a match-winner, Steyn is quickly climbing the rungs among the best there have ever been. Only eight bowlers have taken more wickets in Test wins, but among those with 150 wickets in wins, just two have a better average, while none have a strike rate as good as Steyn's 29.9 balls per wicket. Among South Africans, only Makhaya Ntini has taken more Test wickets in wins, but his tally of 233 is one that Steyn can overtake if he has another Test like the one at the Wanderers. As it stands, Ntini has featured in 17 more wins than Steyn, but he has only eight more wickets.

Despite being a part of a side that has had other top-class bowlers, Steyn has still taken a high percentage of wickets in wins. His tally of 225 in 33 wins means he averages 6.82 wickets per Test, which is next only to Muttiah Muralitharan (8.11 wickets per Test in wins) and Richard Hadlee (7.86). Murali took a whopping 438 wickets in 54 Test victories at 16.18, and while 21 of those wins were against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, even excluding those games, he finished with 269 wickets from 33, at an average of 17.89 runs per wicket, and 8.15 wickets per Test. Hadlee had the best average and the second-best wickets-per-Test ratio among the bowlers who took 150 wickets in wins, but even he once went wicketless in victory: against England at Headingley in 1983, he bowled 47 overs without striking once, even as Lance Cairns, Ewen Chatfield and Jeremy Coney shared the spoils in a five-wicket win. Steyn's poorest match haul in a win is one wicket, against Bangladesh in Centurion in 2008 - the only batsman he dismissed was the No. 10, Shahadat Hossain.

A big improvement in Steyn's stats over the last three years has been his distribution of wickets, more specifically his results against left-hand batsmen. Till around 2009, he clearly preferred bowling to right-handers: his average against them was almost twice as good as his average against left-hand batsmen.

While there isn't a huge improvement in his overall average since 2010 (21.20 compared to 23.97 till 2009), the stats against left-handers have improved significantly, from 35.98 to 23.14. Among the left-handers he has had success against recently are Narsingh Deonarine (four dismissals conceding 20 runs), Michael Hussey (three dismissals for 44), Alastair Cook (three for 94) and Chris Gayle (two dismissals for 50). Steyn's improved stats against left-handers have made him a more well-rounded bowler, and a bigger threat for opposition batsmen. That can only be good news for South African fans.

Steyn v right- and left-hand batsmen before 2010

Batsman type	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	Econ rate
Right-hand batsmen	119	18.62	32.07	3.48
Left-hand batsmen	53	35.98	57.81	3.73
Total	172	23.97	40.0	3.59

Steyn v right- and left-hand batsmen since Jan 2010

Batsman type	Wickets	Average	Strike rate	Econ rate
Right-hand batsmen	109	20.45	40.51	3.02
Left-hand batsmen	42	23.14	45.21	3.07
Total	151	21.20	41.8	3.04

Winless in Australia
On November 23, 2000, West Indies were thumped by an innings and 126 runs at the Gabba in the first Test of the five-Test series in Australia. They lost all the Tests in that series, and the six ODIs that followed, and since then it has been one long losing spree for them in Australia. Since the beginning of 2000, and against all opposition excluding Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, West Indies have a 1-29 win-loss record in all international matches in Australia, their solitary victory coming against Pakistan in a VB Series match in 2005. Against Australia, West Indies have been winless in 30 international matches, losing 27, with one draw and two no-results.

West Indies' win-loss ratio of 0.03 in international matches in Australia is the poorest by a team in a particular country (excluding all matches involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe). As the table below shows, not only do West Indies have the worst win-loss ratio in a country, they also have the second- and third-worst, in New Zealand and South Africa. That's a pretty telling comment on how badly West Indies have fallen away, especially when playing away from home.

Poorest win-loss ratios for a team in a country in all international matches* since 2000

Team	Host	Matches	Win-loss	Ratio
West Indies	Australia	33	1-29	0.03
West Indies	New Zealand	23	2-14	0.14
West Indies	South Africa	26	4-20	0.20
New Zealand	India	25	4-16	0.25
South Africa	Sri Lanka	23	5-16	0.31
West Indies	Sri Lanka	25	5-15	0.33
Sri Lanka	India	30	7-19	0.36
Sri Lanka	South Africa	36	9-25	0.36
Pakistan	Australia	33	9-24	0.37
New Zealand	South Africa	47	12-31	0.38

* Excludes matches involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe

The table below shows the decline - first gradual, then steep - in West Indies' results in Australia, over five 33-match periods. In the period between 1980 and 1984, they won more than three times as many matches as they lost; between 1985 and 1988, they won twice as many as they lost. Those were the days when West Indies were clearly the dominant side in world cricket. Then followed a period of parity in the 1990s, when West Indies won about as many matches as they lost. Since 2000, though, the results have turned downright embarrassing.

West Indies in Australia, over five 33-match periods*

Period	Matches	Win-loss	Ratio
Jan 2000 onwards	33	1-29	0.03
15 Dec 1992 - 31 Dec 1999	33	17-15	1.13
18 Nov 1988 - 14 Dec 1992	33	16-13	1.23
9 Nov 1984 - 17 Nov 1988	33	21-10	2.10
20 Jan 1980 - 8 Nov 1984	33	24-7	3.42

* Excludes matches involving Bangladesh and Zimbabwe