Dale Steyn has labelled reports that his career is nearing its end as ‘rubbish’ and says he still has many overs left in him.

The fast bowler, who was recently officially dethroned as the best fast bowler in the world on the ICC rankings, is experiencing an injury-hit season. He missed a few Tests against India last year before coming back, but injured his shoulder in the first Test against England in Durban and was subsequently ruled out of the rest of the four-match series.

His absence, together with Vernon Philander, has hurt South Africa as they have now lost two big series in a row.

In an interview with SuperSport.com, an angry Steyn said he was annoyed at being constantly written off.

‘It’s absolute rubbish,’ Steyn said. ‘I played 48 tests in a row, didn’t miss a single one, and now suddenly I’m an injury liability at the age of 32? It’s ridiculous. Injuries can happen to anybody but I’m still one of the fittest players in the squad and I have many, many overs left in me.’

Talk of retirement may have started with the speculation that AB de Villiers was considering his future and looking for ways to ‘manage his workload’ but it has baffled the great fast bowler.

‘The test team is going through some huge changes and I want to help lead the way as one of the senior players. This is no time to turn your back and walk away, that’s the last thing on my mind. I have many ambitions left in the game and I’m as excited about playing international cricket now as I was when I started over a decade ago.

‘I would love to play 100 tests, hopefully more, and take many more wickets. But mostly I want to start winning Test matches with the Proteas once again and get back to where we were for so long,’ Steyn said.