Dale Steyn says he hopes to bowl even better and quicker as the series against England progresses after he took three wickets on day one of the Boxing Day Test at Kingsmead.

Steyn impressed with his bowling after returning from a groin injury he picked up in India which forced him to miss a few weeks of cricket. It usually takes him a while to build up to his best form, but he was effective from the get go against England with figures of 3-29 on day one.

‘With the loss of overs, if we had gotten a full day’s play, we might have been able to sneak in a few wickets,’ Steyn said at stumps.

‘At the end of the day we can only do what we can do, that was to get on the park and play. I think it’s even-stevens at the moment. We were lucky to get the breakthrough at the end which helped. These were tough conditions.’

‘When you are coming off for rain the field holds the water, the ball was damp which made it tough to get it to swing and shape. Hopefully day two if the sun comes out we can get the ball to go. It was just starting to reverse a bit this evening so I think with the warmer conditions and the drier outfield we will be able to work some magic.

‘It’s been pretty frustrating sitting on the side-lines for the last six weeks,’ Steyn admitted. ‘Sitting in India and unfortunately not being able to contribute was tough. I have been training hard with the trainer, lost a couple of kilos, so it was nice to get back on to the field. Hashim [Amla] is always asking the leader of the attack to contribute and when we won the toss and decided to bowl I felt like that was my job today, to set the tone from the start.

‘I feel like everything is clicking,’ he added. ‘Touch wood, I could bowl badly on Sunday but I was very happy with the way things came out. Hopefully throughout the series things will start to click, I’ll get quicker and better.’