Former Proteas captain and Cricket South Africa (CSA) director of cricket Graeme Smith paid tribute to Dale Steyn, who retired from the game on Tuesday after an illustrious career that saw him take 439 wickets in 93 Test matches to put him in eighth place on the all-time list of wicket-takers.

"Nobody who saw it will ever forget that memorable delivery of Dale`s that bowled England`s Michael Vaughan in his debut Test series in 2004 that announced him on the world stage as a special talent. He was my go-to bowler when the Proteas needed a major breakthrough. What made him so special was that he always produced the goods when it really counted," said Smith in a statement issued by CSA on Tuesday