South African fast bowler Dale Steyn likes to use tissues, coasters and utility bills to scribble down the technical flaws of opposing batsmen, working out bowling strategies, field settings and other annotations.

If you happen to be invited to his home, you may find him scurrying from floor to floor with the frazzled demeanour of a mad scientist, collating random scraps of paper and stuffing them into a suitcase,” The Age reports.

It is these notes, after all, that represent Steyn''s two-year analysis of the Australian batting line-up, charting everything from trigger movements to temperament.

But with no filing system to speak of, Steyn is having trouble locating them in the days before the Proteas'' departure for Perth.

"They are all over my house. I might be watching the Australians on television, and I will think of a field setting while watching a certain batsman, and I will scribble it down on whatever is in front of me - a tissue, a bit of newspaper, anything.

Steyn''s data-collation issues may be proving frustrating for the man himself, but for the rest of us, they offer an intriguing insight into the mind of South Africa''s most potent pace weapon, and the gravity with which he views the forthcoming Test series against Australia.

Steyn has waited a long time for this. From the moment he trudged from the Telstra Dome with a lamentable limited-overs debut for South Africa.

Net sessions, gym sessions, centre-wicket sessions - all were undertaken with a return visit to Australia in mind. And then there were the hours spent analyzing footage of Australia''s batsmen, complete with the writer''s cramp that followed.

Steyn is, by his own admission, viewing the Tests in Perth (starting December 17), Melbourne (Boxing Day) and Sydney (January 3) as the most important of his career, and has spoken of his desire to inflict misery upon an Australian batting line-up with a long, proud history of taking apart touring pacers.

The talent and intent are ominous enough for Ricky Ponting''s men. In just 27 Tests, Steyn has claimed 136 wickets at the record-setting strike-rate of a wicket every 37.5 balls, and rocketed to first place in the fast-bowling rankings.

He has done so with a combination of pace, swing and skid that has impressed observers the world over, and invited comparisons with some of the greatest pace bowlers to have marked a run-up.

"I am so excited about this series, it feels like a World Cup. Australia-South Africa is a great rivalry, and I''m sure this series will add another great chapter to that," said Steyn. (ANI)