Background

Born in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape Province, Shaun was born into the legendary family of cricketers. Shaun was only five years old when his entire family came to Durban. By the time he was 11, Pollock already had a deep understanding of the game and was keenly interested in cricket. In 1991, he started playing cricket full-time and was soon exposed to his first test match.

First Appearance

Shaun Pollock made his debut in a test series against England. In 1995, he made his ODI debut by smacking four wickets and scoring 66 in batting, being number eight in the list. He was one of the very few play exceptionally well while batting and bowling. He scored half century and also took wickets in the ODI series.

Due to an ankle injury, the debut cricketer had to fall off the team in 1996. In the latter half of the 1990s, Shaun returned to the team again with high hopes and big ambitions. Pollock and Alan Donald made a powerful duo during this time.

Ascend to Glory

Shaun Pollock had a glorious beginning and his performance became consistent throughout. He got worldwide attention when he took a whopping 69 wickets in 14 test matches. In 1998, he created history for himself and rooted his name in the world of cricket. In 1998, his figures were 7/87 which was the best in the career of Shaun Pollock.

Consistency was one thing Shaun swore and this was clearly visible in his every performance. Alongside, his uncanny ability to swing the ball in both directions added the cherry to the cake. In 2000, as a result of his excellent performance and outstanding abilities, Shaun got captaincy for the test series. With the captaincy hat on, his skills only got better and he took a 10-wicket haul in 2001-2002 against India.

Low Point

In the career of Shaun Pollock, there were uncountable highs but there were some low blows as well. After losing the matches in the world cup, the cricketer had to step down from the designation of captain. Due to his back injuries, Pollock’s performance started to decline constantly. Although his accuracy was as good as ever, his records were not all that great.

Captaincy

Shaun Pollock was an all-rounder bowler. In April 2000, Hansie Cronje got banned from cricket for life. This is when Shaun took over as the captain of the team. However, his captaincy was short lasting as he had to step down from the position after the 2003 World Cup.

Although he was no longer a captain, he remained to be an integral part of the team. Pollock has the lowest saving rate out of the bowlers who took 300 ODI wickets. Also, he was the 10th player in the history of cricket to take 400 wickets.

Shaun Pollock’s Records

• 9th position in Most runs in an innings (by batting position)
• 5th Bowler/fielder combinations in test matches with 79 wickets
• 250 runs and 20 wickets in a series record (Test matches)
• 1000 runs, 50 wickets and 50 catches in test matches
• 3rd Most player-of-the-series awards (ODI)
• 3rd Most consecutive matches as captain of a team (ODI)
• 5th Most runs in an innings (by batting position) in ODI
• 1st Best figures in an innings when on the losing side in ODI
• 7th Most four-wickets-in-an-innings in a career
• 5th Most balls bowled in career (15712); One-Day Internationals
• 10th Most runs conceded in career (9631)
• 2nd Most wickets taken by a fielder (192), ODI
• 6th Fastest to 350 wickets (262)
• 1000 runs and 100 wickets record, ODI
• 1000 runs, 50 wickets and 50 catches record, One-Day Internationals
• 6th Highest partnership for the ninth wicket, (103)
• 3rd consecutive matches as captain of a team (89)
• 7th Most player-of-the-series awards (11)

Retirement

Things were tremendous at the beginning of Shaun’s career. Stars favoured him in every match and his skills got him well-deserved recognition. After his captaincy, the first low blow in his career arrived in 2001-2002 against a match with Australia.

Shaun was the Man of the Series in both ODI as well as the test series against India. He yet again proved himself by winning the man of the series against Pakistan in the ODI series. Due to his injuries, Pollock was struggling with his form and he announced his retirement from test cricket midway when they were playing against West Indies.

Shaun retired from ODI as well in the next series that followed. To date, he is the only player who scored 3000 runs and grabbed 3000 wickets in the test and ODI series. The cricketer said that he feels he utilized and nurtured his talent to the best of his abilities. Pollock was happy to be able to terminate things on his own terms.