SPORTING GREATS
Cricket: Shaun Pollock
Brad Morgan
Shaun Pollock comes from the right gene pool. His father, Peter, spearheaded the Springbok pace attack from the mid-1960s to 1970, while his uncle, Graeme, possesses the second-highest Test batting average in history.
Shaun leans more towards his father's forté, being an opening bowler of the highest quality - but he is no mug with the bat, either.
Pollock first came to the fore in 1995 after a superb series of performances in domestic cricket for the Natal Dolphins during which he not only took many wickets, but also gained something of a reputation for hitting batsmen.
First Test cap
He earned his first Test cap in November 1995 against England and immediately impressed with his aggressive approach. After a steady series with both bat and ball, he truly made his mark in the fifth Test in Cape Town, capturing 7 for 58 as South Africa won by 10 wickets to secure a one-nil series triumph.
His first one-day international also
proved a triumph as he knocked over four Englishmen to claim the man of the match award. The standard had been set, and Pollock has never failed to deliver since then.
Together with Allan Donald, he formed a fast bowling attack that was undoubtedly one of the best in the world and the envy of many countries. In 2004 he became the highest wicket taker in South African history, passing Donald's 330 victims.
His miserly average of less than 22 runs per wicket speaks volumes for his superb control, and it is that control - along with Donald's pace and bounce - that served South Africa so well until Donald retired in early 2002.
Talented batsman
Pollock had to wait a long time to score his first Test century, but when it came he completed it in style, hammering 111 off 106 deliveries as South Africa thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and seven runs at Supersport Park in January 2001. The very next series that South Africa played, away to
the West Indies, Pollock topped the batting averages at 75.50, including an unbeaten 106 in the third Test.
In limited-overs internationals, Pollock has moved beyond the 300 wickets mark. His average is slightly higher than his Test average, at just under 24, but it is his economy rate that is so impressive. It stands at under four runs an over - and for a bowler who operates at the end of an innings, that is truly excellent. He averages nearly 25 with the bat, with a highest score of 75.
Captaincy
Pollock was forced into the captaincy of the Proteas when Hansie Cronje was dismissed from the post because of the match-fixing scandal that engulfed the game in early 2000.
He responded well, leading the side to victory over Australia the day after Cronje's part in the scandal first came to light.
He subsequently led the team to a drawn Test series in Sri Lanka, victory in the Singapore Challenge, and a win over world champions
Australia in the limited overs Super Challenge 2000.
The South African side was understandably slightly below par early on in his captaincy, but Pollock has managed to inspire the team to attain the standards that they had been setting previously.
Their limited-overs whitewash of 2000 ICC Knockout champions New Zealand, late in that same year, was evidence of this. Besides beating the Kiwis in six successive one-day internationals, Pollock also led the Proteas to a 2-0 Test-series triumph.
Windies whitewash
In early 2001, Pollock steered South Africa to a first when the team managed to win both the Test and limited overs series against the West Indies in the Caribbean. No side had managed the feat before.
Zimbabwe were brushed aside in a two-Test series and a one-day series whitewash, while India were beaten 2-0 in a Test series, followed by another triumph in the Standard Bank One-Day Triangular Series.
At the end of
2001 Pollock finally tasted defeat as a captain when a South African team ailing under political pressures was crushed 3-0 by Australia in Australia.
After the humiliating Test losses, however, he achieved one of his finest feats of captaincy, leading the Proteas to victory in the VB limited overs series, beating New Zealand 2-0 in the three-match final after Australia were eliminated in the round-robin portion of the competition.
Aussie juggernaut
When Australia visited South Africa in February 2002 for a three-Test and seven one-day international tour, Pollock missed the Tests through injury. The Aussies won the series 2-1, including a massive victory by an innings and 360 runs in the first Test at The Wanderers.
Pollock returned for the one-dayers, but failed to live up to his high standards, only twice making good inroads into the visitors' batting when he took 4 for 32 in the second ODI and 3 for 28 in the final match - the only
victory the Proteas enjoyed in a tough summer.
In August 2002 Pollock led the Proteas in a three-nation limited overs competition, The Morocco Cup, in the North African Country. Facing Pakistan and Sri Lanka, South Africa qualified for the final but were comfortably beaten by the Sri Lankans. Again, Pollock was below his usual standard, taking only two wickets in five matches while scoring 38 runs in total.
Return to form
A tour by Test cricket minnows Bangladesh in September 2002 was the medicine required to rid the Proteas of their Australian hangover. Pollock bowled with tight control, giving little away, while at the same time taking wickets, including 4 for 24 in the third one-day international.
Little was required of the SA skipper in the second Test - he missed the first - as South Africa galloped to two huge innings victories. However, it appeared that he was again finding the form that had been eluding him for some
time.
That assessment, happily for South African cricket, proved to be correct as Pollock enjoyed a good all-round Test series against Sri Lanka, ranked third in the world heading into the series, in October 2002.
In the first Test at the Wanderers, Pollock captured 2 for 45 in the first innings and 2 for 17 in the second, while scoring 38 with the bat, as the Proteas vanquished the Sri Lankans in three days by an innings and 64 runs.
The second Test at Centurion was a much tighter affair, but Pollock played a pivotal role in South Africa's three-wicket victory to secure a series triumph. After claiming 2 for 51 in 29 overs, Pollock became only the fourth man in Test history to be stranded undefeated on 99 as South Africa took a lead of 125 runs.
After picking up a single wicket in the Sri Lankan second innings, Pollock then guided South Africa to the win after a top-order collapse in the home team's second innings.
World Cup
preparation
Pollock was also in excellent form in the five one-dayers. His bowling was particularly good: he picked up 11 wickets in the five matches at the astonishingly miserly average of 13.72, while conceding only 3.49 runs per over. His fine showing included 4 for 18 in Johannesburg and 2 for 23 off his 10 overs in Bloemfontein.
Pakistan was next up, in December 2002, and Pollock once more led the Proteas to convincing series victories in both the ODI and Test series. South Africa swept the talented Pakistanis aside four-one in the one-day series as Pollock garnered the man of the series award.
In the third ODI in East London he hit an unbeaten 32 on a difficult pitch and knocked over 3 for 23, while in Durban his performance was even more astonishing: an undefeated 57 off 51 deliveries and 3 for 12 off 9.5 overs!
In the Test series South Africa was even more dominant, winning the two matches by 10 wickets and an innings and 142 runs
respectively. Pollock was relatively quiet in the first Test victory in Durban, but his performance in Cape Town included a swashbuckling 36 off 19 deliveries with the bat, and 4 for 45 with the ball in Pakistan's first innings.
World Cup failure
Unfortunately for Pollock, South Africa lost some form between the Pakistan series and the 2003 World Cup, and the team performed below expectations, being eliminated before the Super Sixes.
That failure cost him the captaincy, although he performed as consistently as ever. He didn't get many opportunities with the bat, but he picked up 8 wickets at 21.50 per wicket while conceding a miserly 3.58 runs per over. Pollock had become the scapegoat for South Africa's failure.
His status was enhanced, however, when Wisden named Pollock one of its five Players of the Year for 2002-03. It was a deserved award for a player so consistently good that his brilliance is often taken for granted.
His
first tour after demotion from captain was to Bangladesh in April 2003, where South Africa swept the Test series two-nil with two innings victories. Pollock was miserly with the ball, capturing seven wickets at just less than 11, and he scored 41 in his only opportunity with the bat.
In the one-day TVS Cup, Pollock was steady, and in the second match against Bangladesh scored 38 not out and captured 3 for 17 as South Africa won by 93 runs.
Pollock faced a far bigger challenge when the Proteas toured England at the end of June 2003. In the Nat West one-day Series, also featuring England and Zimbabwe, Pollock was a little below par as England won the title, beating South Africa in the final. However, he again made his mark in the five-match Test series.
In the third Test Pollock was at his devastating best, capturing 6 for 39 in England's second innings and scoring 62 with the bat in a losing effort as Michael Vaughan's team leveled the series with a 70-run victory.
300 Test wickets
He missed the fourth Test, returning home to South Africa for the birth of his child, but was back for the fifth Test at the Oval. He struck an entertaining 66 as South Africa tallied 484, then on the second day achieved a notable milestone, capturing his 300th Test wicket when he had Michael Vaughan caught at slip by Herschelle Gibbs.
Pollock had became only the second South African, and just the 19th player in Test history, to achieve this feat - and he did it at a better average than any before him.
The Proteas went on to lose the Test and draw the series, even though Pollock contributed over 100 runs in the match, finishing with the second-highest batting average in the series, 68.33. He also picked up 17 wickets at 24.7, as usual the lowest average among the South African bowlers.
Next up for Pollock was a tour of Pakistan, in October 2003. He bowled beautifully in the two-Test series, picking up eight
wickets at the excellent average of 21.75 and a miserly 2.16 runs per over. Pakistan won the series one-nil, however, after South Africa collapsed in their second innings in the first Test.
A decisive performance
Even with the greater freedom afforded batsmen in the shorter form of the game, Pakistan still struggled against Pollock in the one-day internationals. He conceded a little more than three runs an over and knocked over seven wickets as the Proteas fought back from 2-0 down to win the series 3-2. In the decisive fifth ODI, he produced a decisive performance, capturing 3 for 33 as SA raced to victory.
Back on home soil to face the West Indies in December 2003, Pollock enjoyed a fair four-Test series. "Fair" only because, for once, he wasn't among the top two bowlers on the Proteas' side. Still, he claimed 16 wickets and was as tight as ever with his control as South Africa won 3-0.
Leading the
way
SA took a 3-1 series victory in the one-dayers and Pollock had plenty to do with the positive outcome. Almost a quarter of the overs he bowled were maidens, and he picked up eight wickets, including a superb 4 for 26 in the second game.
In February 2004, against New Zealand, in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Pollock was again the Proteas' most successful bowler in a three-Test series that ended tied at one apiece.
In the second Test he became the highest wicket taker in South African history, passing long-time new ball partner Allan Donald's 330 victims when he had Michael Papps caught by Nicky Boje for a duck.
He struggled for wickets in the one-day internationals, but as usual was the most economical of the South African bowlers.
Then followed a tour of Sri Lanka in July 2004, and Pollock's contribution in the drawn two-Test series served to underline just how important he was to the Proteas. He picked up 10 wickets in the series,
which was matched by Nicky Boje, with the next best haul being only four wickets. Pollock's average was 19.40. Boje's was second best at 41.90!
In the one-day series, South Africa was caned 5-0. Once again, though, the ginger-haired paceman was SA's most economical and successful bowler. He also finished the series second in the batting averages, at 40.25.
After a disappointing showing by the Proteas in the ICC Champions Trophy, in which they lost to eventual champions the West Indies by five wickets in their second match, South Africa headed for India in November 2004 for a tough two-Test series.
Remarkable milestone
It was a tough examination for the inexperienced SA line-up, but Pollock provided one of the highlights of the tour when he reached the remarkable milestone of 3 000 Test runs and 300 Test wickets. It came in the second innings of the second Test, just before he was given out to an awful umpiring
decision.
Regardless, though, he had joined an elite group of players - Richard Hadlee of New Zealand, Imran Khan of Pakistan, Ian Botham of England, and Kapil Dev of India - as the only players in history to achieve the feat.
It says plenty about Pollock that those four men are regarded as giants of the game, and the best all-rounders their countries have ever produced - fair argument that Pollock is South Africa's best ever.
England toured South Africa in December 2004 and on into the new year. In the second test, on his home ground of Kingsmead in Durban, he knocked over 4 for 32 in England's first innings to put the Proteas into a great position to win the game as the English stumbled to 139 all out. He followed that up with 43 as SA totalled 332 in their first innings. England, though, fought back well to force a draw.
In the following test there was no escape for Michael Vaughan's side as Pollock captured 4 for 65 in England's second innings to help bowl
South Africa to a 196-run victory.
He finished the series as SA's second most successful bowler, claiming 21 wickets at 23.95. He was as miserly as ever, conceding only 2.26 runs per over, and recording four of the six most economical returns of the series.
He missed all but one test of South Africa's two-nil series victory over the West Indians in the Carribbean in April 2005 due to injury, but returned for the one-day series.
With Pollock to the fore as one of the world's leading fast bowlers, and an underrated batsman, South Africa continues to rate as one of the top cricket-playing nations in the world, both in Tests and one-day cricket.
Shaun Pollock is one of the key players in the South African team, and undoubtedly one of the top all-rounders in cricket today. His presence on the field enhances the game for its followers the world over.
| 
