'I can't believe we're 1-0 down' - Steyn

Dale Steyn can't quite believe that South Africa are 1-0 down going into the final match of their series against England, after the manner in which they dominated both drawn Tests at Centurion and Cape Town. But, having produced one of the best spells of his career in a luckless performance in last week's nailbiter at Newlands, he remains confident of squaring the series on what is anticipated to be a bowler-friendly surface in the series decider at Johannesburg.

"We almost feel like we've played the better cricket, but that's just the way it goes," Steyn told Cricinfo's Switch Hit podcast. "You have to take your chances when they come, and that's what England did at Durban. But we all know that we need to take 20 wickets to win the final match and level the series, and that's the main thing. If we prepare a flattie, we are basically handing the series over to England, so we know it's going to be an interesting wicket to play on. If our batters can conquer their bowlers, and we can bowl well in home conditions, we could yet get the result we need."

From a personal point of view, however, it would be hard for Steyn to improve upon the performance he put in on the final day of the Cape Town Test, which included a sensational new-ball duel with England's most obdurate player, Paul Collingwood. Finding late swing at 90mph, Steyn beat the bat maybe a dozen times in total, yet somehow failed to find the edge that could well have decided the destiny of the match.

"I think that's what people want to come and watch, don't they?" said Steyn. "Colly is one of the hardest men - we know that from many encounters in one-day cricket, not just Test cricket - and he showed once again what a gutsy player he is. At the end of the day it doesn't matter how well you bowl, if the guy at the other end doesn't get out, the compliments have to go to him. He stuck it out, stuck to his guns, didn't try anything fancy and ended up saving the Test match for England.

"I probably haven't beaten the edge to that extent since schools cricket," he added. "At one point we had a bit of a giggle about it, because although he batted well, I felt that if I could keep bowling with a smile on my face and not lose my cool, that was the main thing. A lot of bowlers tend to run in and beat the bat, and then go looking for the killer ball and get hit for four through the leg side, because they are looking for too much swing. It was an interesting duel between the two of us, and I was able to keep my cool and laugh about it at the end of the day."

Even so, in taking 57 overs to break the stand between Collingwood and Ian Bell, South Africa were left playing catch-up after starting that final day in an optimistic frame of mind. "Our gameplan was to pick up a couple of wickets by lunch, take two or three going to tea, leaving us with two at the end of the day," Steyn said. "We certainly hoped that the new ball would take one or two and cause some panic, as it showed in Pretoria. We always felt that we were in the game, but the way that Colly batted, he stuck it out and didn't get out, and wanted to decide the game there and then."

On a more positive note for Steyn, the quality of his performance demonstrated that had fully recovered from the hamstring trouble that ruled him out of the first Test at Centurion. "I've been working extremely hard off the field, doing a lot of squats and jumps and weights in the dressing room, and I'm impressed it's held together so well. When footballers are injured, the manager can stick them on the field for the last ten minutes and slowly push them. Cricket is different, it's straight in at the deep end with a lot of overs at Durban and Cape Town. I'm just thankful we've got a good trainer, and he's looked after me really well."