Kevin Pietersen reckons that Dale Steyn has not been up to the mark

In his very first stint in the commentary box, Kevin Pietersen has already made a few smashing opinions on a few things on the South African side he believed that isn’t going according to plan. The 36-year old who has been frozen out of the England team, for the most part, has stated that Dale Steyn has not been up to the mark in the recent encounter against Australia at Perth.

Pietersen, who has seemingly switched allegiance from England back to his native South Africa has lashed out at the 33-year old pacer for bowling bouncers and not pitching the ball up in the pacy WACA wicket.

“I’d love to speak positively about Dale Steyn’s bowling here, but it’s not been good enough,” Pietersen said while commentating on Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports. “Everybody knows, or you should know, that when you come to Australia, you come to the WACA, you pitch the ball up.

“I think he’s bowled more bouncers in his first spell than Australia bowled all day. There comes a time in your career where you actually leave the bravado to one side and you think ‘I need to get wickets here’,” Pietersen said.

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“It’s not a case of running in and thinking I can bowl the fastest ball in the world that’s ever been bowled, it’s bowling right.

Kevin Pietersen added, “It’s doing a job for your country, it’s doing a job for your teammates. In the last 10 or so balls, he’s bowled much better, but it’s not good enough … it’s a bit too late. The horse has bolted.”

Steyn had to be hurried off from the field of play following an injury to his right shoulder. “Something we spoke about was making sure we’re hitting the stumps and bowling a little bit fuller and not getting too carried away with that bounce,” Starc told reporters after play.

“They were probably a little but shorter than we were and that’s resulted in being 0-100, so we’re happy with that.”

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