Shaun Pollock’s ODI career in numbers
Mathew Varghese03-Feb-2008Shaun Pollock was a star in his last international match in his home town Durban – bowling yet another miserly spell and hitting the winning boundary – and the fifth ODI against West Indies at the Wanderers will mark the finale for one of South Africa’s prime assets.Pollock currently has 3509 runs and 392 wickets from 302 ODIs, making him only the second player after Wasim Akram to complete the double of 3500 runs and 350 wickets in the limited-over version. He’s also in an exclusive club of four players with over 2500 runs and 250 wickets in ODIs.
Sanath Jayasuriya 403 12207 32.63 30736.37 Wasim Akram 356 3717 16.52 50223.52 Shaun Pollock 302 3509 24.48 39226.38 Kapil Dev 225 3783 23.79 25327.45 During the ongoing series, Pollock became the first South African to reach the mark of 300 ODIs. He’s also by far the leading wicket-taker for his team and fourth on the all-time list, with only Wasim, Muttiah Muralitharan and Waqar Younis ahead of him.One aspect of Pollock’s bowling that has stood out has been his unnerving accuracy. He has consistently managed to curb the runs over his career, despite losing a few yards of pace. With an astounding economy-rate of 3.67, Pollock is one of the most miserly bowlers among the leading wicket-takers in ODIs. That economy-rate is even more remarkable when you consider that Pollock played mostly in an era when bat dominated ball, with bowlers finding it difficult to concede less than five an over.
Richard Hadlee 115 3407 158 21.563.30 Curtly Ambrose 176 5429 225 24.123.48 Malcolm Marshall 136 4233 157 26.963.53 Shaun Pollock 302 9598 392 24.483.67 Kapil Dev 225 6945 253 27.453.71 (For the full list, click here.)Since the time Pollock made his debut, only Curtly Ambrose has been meaner with the ball.
Curtly Ambrose 517.0 1751 68 25.753.38 Shaun Pollock 2608.4 9598 392 24.483.67 Adam Dale 266.0 979 3230.593.68 Gavin Larsen 397.2 1504 56 26.853.78 Fanie de Villiers 210.0 795 35 22.713.78 (For the full list, click here.)Pollock possesses an impressive bowling record against all opposition, with Zimbabwe being the only team against whom his average goes above 30. Australia have played him well, though – Pollock’s 57 wickets have cost him 29.35 apiece at an economy rate of 4.21, which, considering the quality of the opposition, is still pretty impressive. The only other team that has managed to score more than four runs an over against him is India. (For Pollock’s career bowling summary, click here.)Pollock is far more effective at home than away, and surprisingly he’s performed better in the subcontinent than in countries like England and New Zealand, where the conditions assist swing. It’s probably due to the fact that Pollock is more of a seam bowler, and has variations like the slower delivery, which have been very useful on the usually flat decks of the subcontinent.
Home 126 192 20.17 34.43.51 Away 92 103 29.23 46.33.78 Neutral 84 97 27.97 43.83.82 Among those with at least 50 wickets at home, only two have a better bowling average than Pollock.
Dennis Lillee 41 69 18.72 32.03.50 Glenn McGrath 95 160 20.12 32.03.76 Shaun Pollock 127 193 20.23 34.53.50 Saqlain Mushtaq 28 54 20.61 27.34.52 Carl Rackemann 35 56 21.76 33.73.86 (For a full list, click here.)More than half of Pollock’s wickets have come in wins – in which he averages 19.62 – while his bowling average and strike-rate drops over 20 points in losses.
Won 190 289 19.62 35.03.36 Lost 97 89 39.77 55.64.29 Tied 5 7 33.71 41.44.88 No result 10 7 21.28 41.13.10 Besides his bowling, Pollock has been more than handy with the bat, and along with the likes of Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener has been a key cog in South Africa’s much-hailed lower-middle order. Pollock, in fact, is third on the list of leading run-getters at No. 7.
Chris Harris 124 2130 31.32 0/966.98 Abdul Razzaq 89 1848 31.86 0/9 89.01 Shaun Pollock 117 1633 29.69 1/788.94 He’s one of only six batsmen to score a century while batting at No. 7, though it did take a long time coming. Pollock’s maiden hundred came in his 285th ODI – by far a record – coincidentally while playing as a specialist batsman in the Afro-Asia Cup last year.An interesting trend in Pollock’s career is that while his bowling abilities waned in the last few years, his batting improved. Since 2004, Pollock scored 1517 runs averaging 31.60, while his 105 wickets cost 28.12 apiece and needed an average of 47.6 deliveries, much higher than his career strike-rate of 39.9. The bowling decline came despite a prolific 2006, which was his best in terms of statistics as a bowler. Since 2007, his bowling has noticeably diminished: in 33 matches Pollock averaged 38.26 with the bat, and 32.46 with the ball – requiring nearly ten overs to prise out a wicket.For nearly a third of his career, Pollock played as captain. In 26 Tests and 97 ODIs – including two for the Africa XI and three for the ICC World XI – as leader, Pollock had a win ratio of 53.84% and 64.06%. He played 89 ODIs in a row as captain. However, when looking at his ODI statistics while playing under the other long-serving South Africa captains of his era, it’s clear that Pollock the captain pushed Pollock the batsman to the the backstage.
Hansie Cronje 96 1263 26.87 14023.15 Shaun Pollock 97 689 18.13 13423.52 Graeme Smith 103 1318 28.65 11427.31 A regret for Pollock in his ODI career would be his record in World Cups. In 31 matches, he bagged 37 wickets at 31.29 and scored 279 runs at 17.43. His best bowling performance – 5 for 36 – couldn’t help his team through to the final in 1999, while he was captain when South Africa suffered an embarrassing first-round exit at home in 2003.However, he has further established the Pollocks as the first family of South African cricket, with more Test wickets than father Peter and more Test runs than uncle Graeme.
