Anrich Nortje is humbled by the comparisons to Dale Steyn but aims to forge his own path and brand of cricket, writes Khalid Mohidin.

Test cricket bade farewell to Dale Steyn on Monday 5 August. A man who will always be remembered as South Africa’s greatest ever Test bowler.

READ: THE LEGACY OF DALE STEYN

Naturally, the Proteas would have been searching for an adequate replacement. Requirements would be: pace, precision and swing, and these were all attributes shown by Nortje during the Mzansi Super League.

The 25-year-old broke onto the scene bowling at speeds of 150 km/h-plus and saw even the likes of Proteas legend AB de Villiers take a step back and respect the raw pace generated by the young speedster.

Inevitably comparisons rose between Nortje and the Phalaborwa Express.

During his time with the Cape Town Blitz, Nortje managed to spend some time with his teammate Steyn, who gave him a little advice on how to approach his game.

“We just chatted. At that stage, it wasn’t much about cricket and I wanted to do a little more work with him but I got injured,” Nortje said exclusively to Cricket Fanatics Magazine.

“He never told me anything out of the ordinary, just motivated me by telling me to keep doing what I was doing and to follow my own brand of cricket.

“I think guys try to change too quickly – maybe going to the conventional out-swinger or doing things a certain way, rather than sticking to what worked for them and got them to where they are. So that was nice to hear.”

READ: NORTJE AIMS TO MAKE A POSITIVE IMPACT

Nortje was humbled by the comparisons between him and Steyn, but instead of trying to mimic the Proteas legend’s blueprint, he aims to take the advice given to him by the Proteas’ all-time wicket-taker and stick to what has helped him reach this stage in his career.

“There will be a lot of that [comparisons to Steyn]. If you look in the past with Jacques [Kallis] retiring a lot of the guys were looking for the next Jacques,” he added.

“But for me, it’s about sticking to what I’ve been doing and playing the way I have been playing, being aggressive the way I’ve been and I think that’s something that I want to build on rather than trying to change or tick boxes according to what Dale has done. 

“I want to try and build my own game, work hard towards that, keep on doing what I’ve been doing. I’m sure at the end of the day – after I’ve been putting in the hard yards – it’s about playing and believing.”

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