Steyn desperate to lose early stain

Dale Steyn will use an awful one-day entry against Australia as motivation for the upcoming Test series in which the in-form fast bowler will play a key part. Steyn has taken 60 wickets in 11 matches this year and will be a huge challenge for the home side's top order, especially in the opening game at the WACA from December 17.

Steyn, who has played 27 Tests and has an amazing strike-rate of 37.5, visited Australia for a one-day series in 2005-06 and was smashed for 58 in five overs in a day he cannot forget. "I look back on that game as probably the most important of my career," Steyn told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I remember walking off the field embarrassed, and feeling unworthy of even being on the field. It was a terrible feeling, and I've used it to motivate me ever since.

"I had only played a handful of Tests, and was thrown in the deepest end imaginable against what was the best one-day side in the world at the time. It showed me exactly what I needed to do to compete with the best, and forced me to go back to the nets and work hard on my game until I got it right. I refer back to that game often, and I think in the long run it probably helped to make me the bowler I am today."

Steyn is about to start his first Test tour of Australia and is desperate to display his improvement. "I can't wait to get out there and challenge the Australian batsmen," he said, "and hopefully show that I have come a long way from two or three years ago."

The WACA pitch appears to be gaining more pace after a few seasons of dull bounce and Steyn said he got goosebumps when thinking about playing there. "We have toured the subcontinent a lot in recent years, so I have become pretty used to see the ball carrying at ankle height to the wicketkeeper," he said. "The idea of the ball flying past noses and really pinging into the keepers' gloves is really exciting."

However, the threat of extreme bounce has been tempered by the curator Cameron Sutherland, who will not use one of the fully re-laid strips for the Test. The new wickets have provided extra pace, but Sutherland said the pitch chosen would be better than the lifeless one for the India Test last year.

"When we used it for the Twenty20 game between Australia and New Zealand last year it was quite quick," Sutherland told the Australian. "Every game we've played it's been a pretty good cricket wicket."