The premier South African fast bowler Dale Steyn became South Africa’s joint highest Test wicket-taker on Saturday in the second innings of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle, equalling fellow fast bowler Shaun Pollock’s record of 421 dismissals. Steyn removed Sri Lanka’s last batsman Lakshan Sandakan for six to claim his 421st wicket, forcing the tailender to give a simple catch to Temba Bavuma at point. Steyn equaled Pollock’s record in 21 Tests less than him, who ended with 421 wickets after 108 Tests, to reach the landmark.

Ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka, Steyn had scalped as many as 419 Test wickets as he had played his last Test in January this year against India. He was returning to cricket after a gap of 13 months after going sustaining a shoulder injury. However, as luck would have it, he broke down after bowling 17.3 overs and taking two wickets in the Cape Town Test, suffering a muscle tear in his left heel.

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Steyn started his comeback in county cricket earlier on in the season, playing five games for Hampshire, three List A matches and two county championship encounters. He had a strong performance against Yorkshire, returning with match-figures of 5/66.

After making his international debut, other than being one of the world’s leading Test bowlers, Steyn has once again proved his mettle in the shorter formats as well. In the 116 ODIs, he has scalped 180 wickets, to go with 58 T20I wickets in 42 matches. He will have the opportunity to go past Pollock in the second Test at Colombo starting on July 20th as South Africa has lost the first Test by a huge margin of 278 runs within 3 days of play.