South Africa fast bowler Dale Steyn was pleased with his career-best performance against Pakistan in the first Test at the Wanderers, but didn't go overboard as he said he bowled 'quite nicely' for his 11 wickets.

Steyn took six wickets in the first innings for just eight runs as Pakistan were all out for 49. He then got five more in the second knock as the Proteas won by 211 runs. In all this he conceded just 60 runs, and on Monday bowled more than 10 overs on the trot.

A humble Steyn, who won Man of the match, said afterwards: "I bowled quite nicely. I've not been able to pick up wickets at the top in recent times but I'm glad I did it here.

"We wanted to try and get these wickets as quickly as possible today, the guys pushed hard, there wasn't a lot of chances, we were pumped to try and finish off the game."

He then added: "Things just kind of clicked - the ball came out nicely. There's not much thinking going on, your natural instinct takes over. I just got the ball in my hand and ran in and bowled."

Skipper Graeme Smith was quick to praise his pace attack, especially after the Proteas' first innings did not go according to plan as they were all out for 253 on day one.

He said: "We knew we wanted to bat first but we let ourselves down a little bit. But we also knew the cracks in the pitch would come into effect.

"We are blessed to have Steyn in the attack, he is the number one bowler in the world and was helped by Morkel and Philander."

Pakistan captain Misbha-ul-Haq was gracious in defeat, and said that his players would be ready for the Cape Town Test, and were using the loss as a learning experience.

He said: "I think everybody knows that once we can see off the new ball, we can score runs and I think in the next match you will see that.

"They are the number one side and have top-class bowlers, top-class batsmen, and we can learn a lot from them."

The second Tests starts on 14 February at Newlands.