The Phalaborwa Express no longer stops at Phalaborwa. It has long since left that bushveld siding and steamed, whistles tweeting, into the cricket capitals of the worldSome in Phalaborwa still fondly remember the Little Engine That Could before he became the best Test bowler in the world. That was when a young Dale Steyn, "with the mischievous grin", turned out for Ian Oatway's kiddies soccer team in a town where rugby ruled and cricket was an afterthought.How he went from a short kid who wanted to bowl fast to a Test cricketer with 400 wickets is still vague. Perhaps Dale will enlighten us once he has sent down that final over and sits back to let his veins take a break and allow his typing fingers to take over.And whatever else he might have to say about his rise to cricket stardom, that initial journey will be one of some poignancy.Steyn was not born with a silver cricket spoon in his mouth.He did not attend a fancy cricket school, where you could be called out of maths class to practise your forward defensive, or be required to bowl in the nets for the physics period.Steyn got there on his own. There might have been some generous people who helped him once his talent became obvious, but Dale Steyn, the Phalaborwa Express, owes more to Dale Steyn the Phalaborwa Choo-Choo than to anyone else.His 400 wickets came in 80 Test matches, faster to that number than anyone other than the great Kiwi Richard Hadlee. But Steyn bowled fewer balls than Hadlee: 16634 to 20234. For a bowler, that's up there in the Don Bradman league of batting.Steyn now joins 13 other bowlers who have taken 400 or more Test wickets. He is the ninth bowler to do so, after England's Jimmy Anderson (No2 in the world Test rankings) did it in May this year. The only other South African to have done so is Shaun Pollock.What's most impressive about Steyn is his strike rate. He takes a wicket with every 41.58 balls he bowls. It's the best among those who have taken 200 or more Test wickets.Once again he beats Hadlee, who has a strike rate of 50.8 and is second to Steyn in the 400 list.I couldn't have worked all that out and am indebted to Shiva Jayaram, one of the clever clogs at Cricinfo, who did the maths.So thank you, Shiva. But what I really like about this Steyn oke is that he can bat. A favourite Steyn Test match is the one played in Melbourne almost seven years ago.He had just taken five for 87 as the Aussies amassed 394 in their first innings. It was a total from which you should not lose a Test match. But then Steyn went on and made 76 at No10, sharing a stand of 180 (yes 180!) with JP Duminy.As if that were not good enough, he took another five wickets in the Aussie second innings, leaving it to his batting mates to make the 183 needed for victory, which they did losing only Graeme Smith in the process.For the Aussies that must have been like being run over three times - and on their own rail track - by a train from the bushveld...