South Africa has produced some magnificent talents in world cricket’s history. Dale Steyn, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Jacques Kallis and others. Among these superb talents, there was another such diamond that waited for its turn to shine, Shaun Pollock.
Pollock is the first South African to take 400 wickets. Even the greatest of all time Sachin Tendulkar went cautious while facing him.
Cricket in blood
Wondering where he got it from? Well, Pollock had it running in his blood. His paternal grandfather, Andrew Pollock, who played for Orange Free State, was born in Edinburgh.
Pollock is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and all-rounders of all time. From 2000 to 2003, he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI and World XI. Pollock, was chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003.
Pollock’s career in numbers
In Test cricket, he played 108 matches and scored 3,781 runs, and took 421 wickets. His best bowling figures are 7/87. He took five-wicket haul in 16 innings. In Test cricket, he managed to get two centuries and 16 half-centuries.
In the ODI format, he played 303 matches and scored 3,519 runs, and took 393 wickets. His best bowling figures are 6/35. Pollock got one century and 14 half-centuries in the 50-over format.
Pollock's T20 career was pretty much like a superstar's cameo in a movie. He played only 12 matches and managed to score 86 runs and get 15 scalps.
Pollock's record book
In June 2007, he represented an Africa XI in an ODI game against an Asia XI in Bangalore. Playing as a batsman, Pollock scored 130 batting at number seven, the highest ever score by an ODI batsman in that position. Though the record would not last long, Mahendra Singh Dhoni bettered it later in the series.
Shaun was the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in Tests until Dale Steyn overtook him on December 26, 2018.
Pollock has the record for the most Test centuries while batting at number 9 or below. He also holds the record for playing the most ODI innings before scoring a century (189). He became the first Test captain to remain unbeaten on 99 in an innings. The South African also has the record for taking the most ODI wickets when playing on home soil (193). The right-arm fast bowler has the record for bowling most maiden overs in ODI history (313).
Pollock & captaincy, are a bad pair indeed
After Hansie Cronje was banned from cricket for life, Pollock took over the captaincy in April 2000. He was eventually removed from the captaincy after South Africa's performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup.
His captaincy stint was far from memorable. South Africa suffered a first-round exit in their home World Cup after he miscalculated the D/L score required for them to beat West Indies - that was his final game as captain. He played his fourth World Cup in 2007 but was noticeably slower, and he retired from the game the following year.
