Shaun Pollock is one of the biggest legends in South African cricket history. He has been one of those players that have left a lasting impact on the sport. He has played 108 Matches and he has taken 421 Wickets at an average of 23.12. He has taken 16 Five Wicket Hauls and 1 time he has taken 10 wickets in a Test Match. He has also made 3781 runs while batting with 2 Hundreds. Shaun Pollock has played 303 ODIs for South Africa in which he has taken 393 Wickets at an average of 24.51 with 5 Five Wicket Hauls in ODI Cricket. He has made 3519 runs in ODI Cricket. Therefore he has taken 814 international wickets and he has scored 7300 international Runs.
Let’s look at the Top 5 Best Bowling Performances of Shaun Pollock
1) 7/87 vs Australia (1998)
This is one of the best bowling performances in the international cricket career of Shaun Pollock. This was early in his career. Australia were batting after South Africa in this test match. Shaun Pollock bowled a massive 41 overs. He gave away 87 runs and took 7 Wickets. He gave away 2.12 runs per over. He got the Wickets of Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Ian Healy, Shane Warne among others. He made a statement against the best team in the world in Australia. He took 2 Wickets in the fourth Innings. He bowled 30.4 overs and he gave away 61 runs at 1.99 Runs per over. This match was a draw.
2) 4/91 and 6/56 vs India (2001)
The only time in test cricket when he took 10 Wickets in a Test Match. This was a match against India. In this match he took 4 Wickets for 91 runs in 27 overs. He gave away 3.37 runs per over but he got the Wickets of Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and others. India made 379 in the first innings. In the second batting innings for India, Shaun Pollock was at his best. He took 6 Wickets for 56 runs in 21.4 overs. He gave away 2.58 runs per over. Shaun Pollock took 10 Wickets for 147 runs. In the second innings he took the Wickets of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag. South Africa won this match by 9 Wickets.
3) 6/30 vs Sri Lanka (2001)
This is one of his bowling spells in Test Cricket. This was also in 2001. This was in the first innings for Sri Lanka. He bowled 13.4 overs and he gave away 30 runs at 2.20 runs per over. Shaun Pollock was at his best during his time and he was bowling out opposition. He took the Wickets of Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene and others. Shaun Pollock also took 1 Wicket in the second batting innings of Sri Lanka. South Africa won the match by an innings and 229 runs.
4) 6/35 vs West Indies (1999)
This was one of his best ODI bowling performances. Although South Africa lost this match by 43 runs, this performance by Shaun Pollock cannot be ignored. He was the star as he took 6 Wickets for only 35 runs in 10 overs. He only gave away 3.5 runs per over and West Indies made 292 in 50 overs. He got the Wickets of Shivnaraine Chanderpaul, Brian Lara. South Africa were not able to chase this down. This was a match where Shivnaraine Chanderpaul made 150 and Carl Hooper made 108 for West Indies.
5) 5/23 vs Pakistan (2007)
This was in the later stages of his career and Shaun Pollock showed the world that he still had it. This was against Pakistan and it was in the first innings. He took 5 Wickets for just 23 runs in 10 overs at 2.3 runs per over. He was the main reason that Pakistan were all out for 153. He got the Wickets of Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Inzamam Ul Haq. South Africa won this match by 9 Wickets. Shaun Pollock won the match for South Africa in his last 5 Wicket Haul in ODI Cricket.
