Shaun Maclean Pollock (born 16 July 1973) is a South African retired cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003. He is the leading wicket taker among South Africans, taking over 400 test wickets and scoring over 3,700 test runs in his 108 Test matches. On 11 January 2008 he announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket after his 303rd One Day International on 3 February.
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Shaun Maclean Pollock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 16 July 1973 Port Elizabeth, Cape Province,South Africa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Polly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting style | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling style | Right arm fast-medium | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowling all-rounder | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations | AM Pollock (grandfather) PM Pollock (father) RG Pollock (uncle) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Test debut(cap 261) | 16 November 1995 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 10 January 2008 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 39) | 9 January 1996 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 3 February 2008 v West Indies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI shirt no. | 7 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992/93–2003/04 | KwaZulu-Natal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996–2002 | Warwickshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004/05 | Dolphins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Mumbai Indians | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Durham | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Source: CricketArchive, 20 September 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Career
Shaun Pollock was a fast-medium seam bowler, with the ability to deliver a quicker ball with accuracy and swing.
The nephew of legendary South African cricketer Graeme Pollock and the son of former South African fast bowler Peter Pollock, expectations from him were high since he started playing for South Africa in 1995/96, in their home series against England. He cemented his place in the team with some excellent performances and found a steady bowling partner in Allan Donald. They were to be the mainstay of South African bowling till Donald's retirement.
Pollock was also a very useful hard-hitting batsman, whose style bears some resemblance to his famous uncle on occasions. He has normally batted at 7 or 8, with a Test average of over 30 and ODI average above 25. He is also an athletic fielder. After Hansie Cronje was banned from cricket for life, Pollock took over the captaincy in April 2000. He had the task of boosting the morale of the team in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal. After getting off to a good start as a captain he faced some disappointing series losses in his tenure. He was eventually removed from the captaincy after South Africa's poor performance in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, a tournament that they were amongst the favourites to win as the host nation.
Although no longer captain, he retained his place in the team. After a disappointing Test series tour of Australia in 2005/2006, he faced criticism for losing his wicket taking ability. He has the lowest (best) economy rate of any bowler to have taken 300 ODI wickets, and he is also the first South African and only the tenth player to take 400 Test wickets. However, minor injuries hampered his performances towards the end of his career, and in September 2007 he was dropped from the South African test side for the first time in his career. Pollock was later readded to the test series against the West Indies, whereupon he announced his retirement, effective on 3 February 2008. He stated that "I realise I have been blessed by God and feel I have nurtured my talents to the best of my abilities." After South Africa sealed a series victory against the West Indies, Graeme Smith paid tribute to Pollock, stating "It's very important that people celebrate what he's given to South African cricket and what he's achieved as an individual." Shaun Pollock recently represented Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League, and Durham Dynamos in the 2008 Twenty20 Cup in England.
He is friends with golf icon Gary Player and regularly plays in the Gary Player Invitational charity golf series to help raise funds for underprivileged children.
Shaun Pollock has commentated on Sky Sports and Test Match Special on the BBC during the 2008 England vs South Africa Test Series.
Career highlights
Pollock took four wickets in four balls on his first appearance for Warwickshire – in a limited-overs (B&H Cup) game v Leicestershire at Birmingham in 1996. He also recently received the SA Player's Player award and the SA ODI Player of the Year Award.
He is joint 10th in the all time best ever bowler ratings in the LG ICC Ratings, and has taken over 400 wickets and at the time of his retirement was one of only six players to have scored 3000 runs and taken 300 wickets in Test matches.
He has also performed impressively in One Day International, consistently from 1997 to 2001. The year 2002 saw a little performance dip after which he performed excellently up until 2005 after which there was a second dip. Many said that Pollock would not recover from this but he did, in fact he reached his career-best LG ICC Bowling Rating of 920 in February 2006. He holds the 3rd highest career-best rating, 3 points behind the New Zealand bowler Richard Hadlee.
In June 2007 he represented an Africa XI in an ODI game against an Asia XI in Bangalore. Playing as a specialist batsman, Pollock scored 130 from number 7 in the batting order, the highest ever score by an ODI batsman in that position. The record would however not last long, MS Dhoni bettered it later in the series.
In Summer 2008 he played for Durham County Cricket Club in the North East of England and along with fellow South African Albie Morkel was used mainly in the Twenty20 Cup competition.
Of the 18 players who have bowled at least 2,000 balls for South Africa in ODIs, Pollock's economy rate of 3.65 runs per over was the second best behind that of Fanie de Villiers.
Rankings
Shaun Pollock's career-best ranking and rating in the cricket ratings as determined by the International Cricket Council are as follows:
- Test Batting 37th (565).
- Test Bowling 1st (909).
- Test All-rounders 1st (489).
- ODI Batting 34th (589).
- ODI Bowling 1st (920)
- ODI All-rounders best 1st (496).
Personal life
Pollock comes from a family of mainly Scottish ancestry. His paternal grandfather, Andrew Pollock, who played for Orange Free State, was born in Edinburgh. He is married to Patricia "Trish" Lauderdale and has two daughters, Jemma and Georgia. Jemma was born in August 2003, and Georgia in July 2006. Lauderdale was a finalist in the Miss South Africa pageant in the early '90s and also worked for MTN, a South African telecom company. He is a teetotaller and a devout Christian. Pollock is a graduate of the University of Natal with a bachelor's degree in commerce.
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