Quote:
Originally Posted by John  Probably went on a couple of years too long. |
Twelve months ago Pollock would have walked into any side in the world: he'd just taken 25 wickets at 17 against Pakistan with a strike rate of 43.4. He was injury free and bowling the best spells of his career.
Code:
Career averages Mat Inns Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 5 10
unfiltered 108 202 4042.5 1218 9686 420 7/87 10/147 23.06 2.39 57.7 16 1 Profile
filtered 6 12 180.5 60 433 25 4/35 7/72 17.32 2.39 43.4 0 0
The current game has confirmed that he's still the best bowler in SA: a ridiculous captain and coach combination led to him not even getting the new ball... but it was Pollock that broke the WI, reducing them to 22/3 in his first few overs (yes, at that point he was reutning 4-2-6-2, and 4 of the runs had come via an edge through the slips) before chipping in with another wicket to get them 57/6 (ending his first spell with figures of 7-2-22-3). Another wicket in his second spell saw him end the innings with 11-2-35-4 - which suggests a bowler who has not lost anything.
Just look back at that first spell: awesome stuff...
Code:
5.3 Pollock to Parchment, no run, beauty! That's a cracker. Bounce and movement, only a touch of movement mind - but enough to beat the wishy, washy, poky defensive prod of Parchment
5.4 Pollock to Parchment, no run, Parchment is forward, defending...but missing. Beaten by the swing
7.2 Pollock to Parchment, no run, bowled him! No...I got too excited again. On the back foot, he defends and the ball bounces back over the stumps
7.4 Pollock to Parchment, no run, huge movement into the right hander who is also beaten for pace, the ball taking a thick inside edge into his pad
9.1 Pollock to Morton, OUT, got him! A raucous appeal from Pollock who raps Morton on the pad. Morton was cautiously forward on the front foot, the ball cutting back onto him and it looked like it was going down leg...but Dar raised his finger
9.3 Pollock to Samuels, no run, massive movement back into the right hander who's rapped on the front foot
9.5 Pollock to Samuels, no run, Samuels is beaten, as this one swings away from his defensive poke
9.6 Pollock to Samuels, no run, rapped on the back foot
11.2 Pollock to Parchment, FOUR, edged through the slips past the diving gully and down to third man!
11.4 Pollock to Parchment, OUT, what a catch! That's a quite remarkable catch from Gibbs. Parchment drives, it takes a thick outside edge and flies to Gibbs' right at gully who dives, spectacularly, and plucks it one-handed above his head and to his right. Quite brilliant
13.1 Pollock to Bravo, no run, that's deadly bowling from Pollock, just nibbling this back into him and it's defended
13.3 Pollock to Bravo, no run, a fast leg break which is left alone
13.6 Pollock to Bravo, 2 runs, angling into him, he doesn't move his feet an inch...and gets a thick inside edge
15.1 Pollock to Ramdin, no run, he plays and misses outside off. Beaten for bounce and movement
17.6 Pollock to Bravo, OUT, good catch again from Gibbs. A nasty, vicious ball from Pollock which bounces off a good length and he fends this off to Gibbs' right who keeps low, moving quickly to his right, diving, and taking his second fine catch of the morning
What more could any bowler have done in just 7 overs?
12-01-2008, 02:11 AM
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