Veteran Proteas quick Dale Steyn has returned to the bowling crease and has pencilled in the third Test against Australia as his possible comeback to international cricket.

Steyn has been out of action since midway through the first Test against India in January, when he injured his foot and could not continue in the match.

It was the latest in a string of issues that kept him out of Test cricket throughout 2017, raising questions as to whether the record-breaking quick would play the longest format again.

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But yesterday, as the Proteas went down 1-0 to Australia in the four-Test series, Steyn confirmed he was again walking down a well-worn comeback trail.

"I'm actually walking to my car right now to have a bowl. I can't wait," he told Radio KFM in South Africa.

"It's been a long time – shoulder, foot, all that kind of stuff. Watching the cricket yesterday and seeing some of the things that are happening on the field, I just want to get out there."

Steyn is just two wickets short of equalling Shaun Pollock's all-time South African Test tally of 421, while his return later in the series could come at the expense of a misfiring Morne Morkel, who took three wickets in Durban in what his former skipper Graeme Smith described as a "disappointing" performance.

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Morkel will retire from Tests at the conclusion of the current series, and while a fit Steyn could make a difficult decision for selectors, it remains to be seen how quickly he can ready himself for the rigours of Test cricket.

"I'm looking at trying to get into the third Test, get back with the boys and everything like that," Steyn added.

"I've had a bit of an unlucky one with my foot – Mitchell Starc has actually had something very similar to mine, but mine was just a little bit worse. It seems like every injury I get is really bad.

"I'm probably another two or three weeks away … I have to play one or two warm-up games.

"So hopefully everything goes according to plan, and by the end of next week, I should be back on the cricket field."

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Steyn was a keen observer of the action in the first Test in Durban, and felt the Proteas were less aggressive as a unit due to the shackles placed on firebrand quick Kagiso Rabada, whose recent ill-discipline makes him one offence away from an ICC suspension.

"One other guy that actually gets involved is 'KG' (Kagiso Rabada) – he really does get stuck in," he said.

"But I think after the last few incidents where he got into trouble – he got a ban and a fine and everything like that – he kind of has the handcuffs around him right now, which is a little unfair.

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"Because if you look at the way some of the Aussies are going about it, it's just … And I'm not standing here and complaining, and I hope I don't get a fine for saying that, but you kind of feel that you are taking out our best competitor, especially with that kind of presence, you take him out of the game and it's like taking a knife to a gunfight really. It's a little bit unfair."

Qantas tour of South Africa

South Africa squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock, Theunis de Bruyn, AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Morne Morkel, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada.

Australia squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Jon Holland, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Jhye Richardson, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.

Warm-up match: Australia beat South Africa A by five wickets. Report, highlights

First Test Australia won by 118 runs. Scorecard

Second Test St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, March 9-13. Live coverage

Third Test Newlands, Cape Town, March 22-26. Live coverage

Fourth Test Wanderers, Johannesburg, March 30-April 3. Live coverage