Shaun Pollock is a former South African cricketer who took 21 five-wicket hauls during his career in international cricket. A five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") refers to a bowler taking five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded as a notable achievement, and , only 54 bowlers have taken 15 or more five-wicket hauls at international level in their cricketing careers.The five-wicket haul is defined by the accumulative sum of all formats of the game. With 829 wickets at the international level, Pollock is South Africa's most prolific wicket-taker. The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack described him as "one of the most balanced cricketers to represent South Africa in the modern era" and named him one of their "Cricketers of the Year" alongside four other players in 2003. With fellow cricketer Allan Donald, he formed a formidable bowling partnership and the duo were mainly responsible for many of South Africa's key victories in the late 1990s.
Pollock made his Test debut against England in November 1995. He picked up his first five-wicket haul during the fifth match of the same series. In January 1998, Pollock took a career-best figure of 7 wickets for 87 runs against Australia, bowling 41 overs. His figures of 6 wickets for 30 runs, against Sri Lanka, in January 2001 are the best by a South African captain. In Tests, he has taken fifers against all cricketing nations with the exception of Bangladesh, and is most successful against West Indies with four fifers.
Pollock's One Day International (ODI) debut was against England in January 1996, capturing four wickets for 34 runs and was named "Man of the match". However, it took another three years to pick up a fifer, this time against the West Indies when he picked up six wickets for 35 runs in a math which South Africa lost. With five fifers in ODIs, he has the highest number of fifers than any other South African bowler, and ninth in the all-time list. Pollock played 12 Twenty20 Internationals between 2005 and 2008. He never managed to take a fifer in this format; his best bowling figures remain 3 wickets for 28 runs.
Key Symbol Meaning DateDay the Test started or ODI held InnInnings in which five-wicket haul was taken OversNumber of overs bowled RunsNumber of runs conceded WktsNumber of wickets taken EconRuns conceded per over BatsmenBatsmen whose wickets were taken ResultResult for the South Africa team 10 or more wickets taken in the match Pollock was selected as man of the match
Tests
No.DateGroundAgainstInnOversRunsWktsEconBatsmenResult 1 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town Alec Stewart Graeme Hick Jack Russell Dominic Cork Peter Martin Won 2 Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad Ali Naqvi Saeed Anwar Ijaz Ahmed Inzamam-ul-Haq Waqar Younis Won 3 Adelaide Oval, Adelaide Matthew Elliott Greg Blewett Mark Waugh Steve Waugh Ian Healy Andy Bichel Shane Warne Drawn 4 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban Saeed Anwar Mohammad Yousuf Moin Khan Azhar Mahmood Waqar Younis Fazl-e-Akbar Lost 5 Headingley, Leeds Mark Butcher Nasser Hussain Alec Stewart Mark Ramprakash Ian Salisbury Lost 6 The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Clayton Lambert Philo Wallace Brian Lara Nixon McLean Curtly Ambrose Won 7 St George's Park, Port Elizabeth Clayton Lambert Shivnarine Chanderpaul Floyd Reifer Curtly Ambrose Mervyn Dillon Won 8 Kingsmead Cricket Ground, Durban Shivnarine Chanderpaul Carl Hooper Darren Ganga Franklyn Rose Curtly Ambrose Won 9 Basin Reserve, Wellington Matthew Horne Chris Harris Adam Parore Dion Nash Simon Doull Won 10 Chevrolet Park, Bloemfontein Grant Flower Murray Goodwin Alistair Campbell Andy Flower Bryan Strang Won 11 Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town Marvan Atapattu Sanath Jayasuriya Mahela Jayawardene Russell Arnold Nuwan Zoysa Muttiah Muralitharan Won 12 Sabina Park, Kingston Brian Lara Carl Hooper Ridley Jacobs Cameron Cuffy Courtney Walsh Lost 13 Chevrolet Park, Bloemfontein Rahul Dravid VVS Laxman Virender Sehwag Deep Dasgupta Javagal Srinath Zaheer Khan Won 14 Port Elizabeth Shiv Sunder Das Rahul Dravid Sachin Tendulkar Sourav Ganguly VVS Laxman Drawn 15 Trent Bridge, Nottingham Marcus Trescothick Michael Vaughan Nasser Hussain Andrew Flintoff Ashley Giles James Anderson Lost 16 Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad Imran Farhat Yasir Hameed Inzamam-ul-Haq Shoaib Malik Mushtaq Ahmed Danish Kaneria Drawn
One Day Internationals + Five-wicket hauls in One Day InternationalsNo.DateGroundAgainstInnOversRunsWktsEconBatsmenResult 1 Buffalo Park, East London Philo Wallace Shivnarine Chanderpaul Nixon McLean Brian Lara Keith Semple Curtly Ambrose Lost 2 Edgbaston Cricket Ground, Birmingham Mark Waugh Steve Waugh Michael Bevan Tom Moody Shane Warne Tie 3 The Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Nasser Hussain Nick Knight Graeme Hick Darren Maddy Mark Alleyne Won 4 SuperSport Park, Centurion Sourav Ganguly Shiv Sunder Das Rahul Dravid Harbhajan Singh Javagal Srinath Lost 5 New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg Mohammad Hafeez Imran Nazir Younis Khan Mohammad Yousuf Inzamam-ul-Haq Won
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