Steyn seeks reverse on rivalry with Clarke

Maybe it was his arrival in Canberra, Australia's capital and seat of national government that hosts a vast majority of foreign embassies among its purpose-planned suburban sprawl.

Or perhaps it was the realisation that, after copping a relentless character assessment from the crowd in Perth last weekend, being targeted as the visiting villain in a summer that contains the quadrennial ICC World Cup might start to wear a little thin.

Whatever the rationale, South Africa's primary provocateur Dale Steyn was straining at the diplomatic leash today, and attempting to smoke the peace pipe (rather than from the ears, as is his on-field persona) when asked about his feud with injured Australian skipper Michael Clarke.

It's a stoush that was initially sparked during the heated final hour of the decisive third Test between the teams in Cape Town last March, when – as Australia searched desperately for the last couple of wickets late on the fifth day – the pair became embroiled in a heated slanging match.

They shook hands at game's end, but six months later after he bowled the Proteas to victory in the final of an ODI tri-series in Zimbabwe, Steyn used the post-match media conference to unleash on the Australian captain who had already returned home because of his hamstring troubles.

The 31-year-old, who remains the world's top-ranked Test bowler, used that public forum to reveal he had taken deep personal offence at whatever Clarke said to him in Cape Town, that the Australian had not personally apologised for it and that he was angry about it.

"But the day he comes and shakes my hand and says 'I really mean what I said' and behaves like the way he should, maybe then I will (forgive him)," Steyn said at the time

"But for right now, he's not here so I'll wait until I get to Australia."

Now that he's in Australia, it seems the fiery quick – nicknamed the Phalaborwa Express after the mining town of his birth that stands on the gateway to South Africa's famed safari country – felt he should somehow douse the fire on to which he heaped accelerant in Harare.

But no matter how he hard he tried – in keeping with his surrounds at Manuka Oval, a short hop down Canberra Avenue from Parliament House – to stay 'on message', he was unable to successfully extinguish the issue.

Especially when he told the assembled press gallery once the cameras were turned off that he had approached Clarke during last Friday's opening Carlton Mid Series ODI at the WACA to talk the matter through but was apparently given "the cold shoulder" by his rival.

Asked exactly what it was Clarke had said during the heat of that Cape Town Test that so infuriated the bowler who admits he can be snaky when competing but tries not to take his aggression over the top, Steyn invoked the 'what happens on the field stays on the field' caveat.

And having resurrected the feud in the wake of the Proteas' series win in Zimbabwe, he claimed the subsequent reporting of his vent had made the feuding pair appear "like two schoolgirls the way the media got hold of it".

"It's got nothing to do about 'I'll see you in the car park and we'll beat the crap out of each other'," Steyn said today.

"It's got nothing to do with that man – maybe I just said too much in Zim (Zimbabwe).

"It's probably best to just flatten it out now and wish him well and I look forward to last three games.

"I didn't want it to start a massive thing.

"It did – doesn't matter. He (Clarke) is not playing now. He's obviously injured.

"Hopefully he gets well, he's a great player and I think there's enough respect from both of us, we've played against each other for long enough now and it's just kind of got blown out of the water, it's a bit silly really in all honesty."

As silly as it might now appear in the cool light of a Canberra late-spring afternoon, Steyn opted not for the 'I'm not going back over old ground' response as recommended by media advisors to the talking heads up the road.

Instead, he sang a strident reprise of the events that led to his initial outburst and, in doing so, ensured the issue will be dragged out and inflamed again should the two teams – with Clarke fully fit – cross paths during the World Cup in February and Marsh.

"I felt like Clarkey had his opportunity to say something at the end of the Cape Town Test and obviously I wasn't in the press conference there and the next opportunity I got was a couple of months later in Zimbabwe," Steyn said.

"So I said what I felt.

"It wouldn't have been fair if I'd said something straight after (the Cape Town Test which Australia won), I would have been called a sore loser after losing the series or the match so I just kept my mouth closed until it was my turn to say something.

"I don't think I can really mention (what was said to spark the spat) it over the air now, which is why I said if I see him we'll have a normal chat between the two of us.

"Aussies are that kind of side, they're always in your face.

"I think of all the sides that play Test cricket in the world, the Aussies are always well known for being in-your-face kind of cricketers, kind of bullying teams and stuff like that.

"I don't play my cricket like that personally.

"I may look like that when I'm on the field and everything like that but I am a fast bowler, that's just what you've got to do at the end of the day.

"I don't quite agree with the way some of the things are done, I think there's a line and I try to stay close to that line but never over stepping it and if I do over step it I'll be the first guy to put my hand up and say I'm sorry and go and do whatever I can to fix that.

"I think Australia have always been that kind of side so it doesn't surprise me when they come hard or when somebody you've been a teammate with before doesn't greet you at breakfast, that's just the way it is.

"At the end of the day it doesn't matter, man.

"That's why we go and watch cricket, it's great fun, it's great to see.

"I don't expect anything less in this (Carlton Mid ODI) series.

"It would be a disappointment if Mitch Johnson didn't abuse Faf (du Plessis), it would be disappointing if I didn't abuse somebody and (David) Warner didn't have a go at someone.

"Why would anyone want to come and watch us play cricket apart from our skills?

"It's got to be entertaining and that's why we play."

The third Carlton Mid Series ODI will be played at Manuka Oval tomorrow from 2.20pm AEDT.