Shaun Pollock

Shaun Pollock is a bowling all-rounder who took over as captain of the South African international cricket team in the aftermath of the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal in 2000. He was captain of South Africa for three years during this difficult period and had the task of restoring team and national sporting morale. He was named Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 2003.

He came from a cricketing family. His father was former South African fast bowler Peter Pollock and his uncle was Graeme Pollock, one of the finest batsmen to have ever played. Shaun is a fast-medium seam bowler, with the ability to deliver a quicker ball with accuracy and swing. He is considered to be one of the straightest bowlers in world cricket. He is also a handy batsman, going in at No 7 or 8.

He made his debut for South Africa in the 1995/96 season and when he announced his retirement from international cricket in February 2008, he had played in 108 Test matches, taking 421 wickets and scoring 3,781 runs. He formed a formidable new-ball partnership with Allan Donald and this pairing was the springboard of much of South Africa’s success during the latter half of the 1990s. He became the first South African (and at the time only the tenth) player to take 400 Test wickets. He played in 303 One Day Internationals, taking 393 wickets and 3,519 runs.

He also played for an Africa XI, a World XI, the Dolphins team and Natal in South Africa and Warwickshire in England. In his first appearance for Warwickshire in a limited-overs game against Leicestershire at Birmingham, Pollock took four wickets in four balls. More recently he has played for Mumbai in the Indian Premier League and English county Durham in the Twenty20 Cup.