Top 5 South African all-rounders of all-time

#2 Shaun Pollock

Pollock is South Africa’s leading wicket-taker in Tests and ODIs

Regarded to be one of the greatest all-rounders of all-time, Shaun Pollock has definitely surpassed all his family members in cricket with his father Peter Pollock and uncle Peter Pollock both being accomplished cricketers. Pollock was predominantly a bowling all-rounder who was recognized for his ability to swing the delivery accurately.

He was also a useful pinch-hitter who played quite a few crucial innings for South Africa with the bat. Following Hansie Cronje’s ban from cricket, Pollock was handed the captaincy of the South African team; something he would be axed from following South Africa’s disappointing first round exit from the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

He represented the national team in a total of four World Cups and in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 and retired from international cricket in 2008.

Pollock is South Africa’s leading wicket-taker, having taken 421 Test wickets at an average of 23.11 and an economy rate of 2.39 and 393 ODI wickets at an average of 24.50 and at an impressive economy rate of just 3.67. Pollock also played 12 T20Is in which he took 15 wickets at an average of 20.60 and an economy rate of 7.62.

His best bowling figures are 87/7 against Australia at Adelaide in Tests, 35/6 against West Indies at East London in ODIs, and 28/3 against New Zealand at Johannesburg in T20Is. With the bat, Pollock scored 3781 runs in Tests at an average of 32.31 and a strike rate of 52.52, hitting 16 fifties and 2 hundreds with his highest score being 111 against Sri Lanka at Centurion in 2001.

In ODIs, Pollock scored 3519 runs with the bat at an average of 26.45 and a strike rate of 86.69, hitting 14 fifties and a century with his highest score being 130 while playing for Africa XI against Asia XI in 2007. In T20Is, Pollock scored only 86 runs with the bat at an average of 12.28 and a strike rate of 122.85 with his highest score being an unbeaten 36 against West Indies in 2008. Truly, one of the most incredible players South Africa were gifted with.