Dale Steyn vs Allan Donald vs Shaun Pollock

[Top_Cat]

Also some suggestions of throwing from the bloke he hit first in that video.

Steyn, for me.

 

[stephen]

South Africa has Steyn and Pollock opening their all time XI and Donald at first change.

 

[Zinzan]

South Africa has Steyn and Pollock opening their all time XI and Donald at first change.

Huh? Donald was a good 1st-change white-ball bowler, but he's opening with Steyn with the red ball If I had anything to do with it.

 

[Dendarii]

We just forget how good Pollock was.

I think Pollock perhaps get overlooked a little because there isn't really any facet of his play where he stands out significantly from his teammates. As a bowler, initially he was overshadowed a bit by Donald, and while maybe not overshadowed by Ntini, Ntini was much more of a run through a side bowler than Pollock. And then of course, Steyn came along...

Pollock is up there amongst the best allrounders ever, but did spend his entire career playing alongside someone who could legitimately be regarded as an even better allrounder. And while South Africa had a good record under his captaincy, I think he might even be the first to admit that he wasn't as good a captain as the two blokes his stint was sandwiched between.

So while Pollock has a fantastic record that not many players could match, it gets forgotten a little because he played with some of those players who could match (or even surpass) the various elements of his record.

 

[GoodAreasShane]

Have to lean marginally in favour of Allan Donald on this one. It is certainly a close call but in general I consider the 90's a stronger era in international cricket than the last few years.

 

[Zinzan]

Incidentally, Pollock's Test batting is hard to assess.

One school of thought is he was advantaged batting down the order in such a strong deep batting lineup, which allowed for a lot of not-outs, facing generally tired battered bowlers, and seldom batting under much pressure.

On the other hand that situation didn't lend itself to opportunities for hundreds, hence his pretty horrendous conversion of 2 tons in 156 innings, for an all-rounder averaging above 30.

 

[Prince EWS]

Yeah I think it's fair to say that Pollock's batting average matched his ability but probably slightly flattered his input. You could say the same for Kallis's bowling average, in that he was a good enough bowler to average 33 but didn't really influence the amount of games a typical frontliner with a similar average and length and career would have. I think this is just in the nature of being an allrounder who is world class at one discipline for a lengthy career in the modern era really; workload concerns somewhat limit the realistic potential impact of the secondary skill.

 

[Top_Cat]

It’s perception, tbh. Pollock’s technique made him look a proper bat but he wasn’t. Kallis as a bowler contributed far more to winning games than Pollock as a bat. Doubt his output would have been much better had he batted higher.

 

[StephenZA]

Pollock had the ability to bat top 6, impeccable timing and good technique. Concentrated on his bowling, but I think if he had concentrated on batting at a young age would have been world class in that discipline When your father is Peter and your uncle is Graham it was pretty much choose what you want....

Unfortunately for men's cricket I think he just had 2 daughters.

 

[Dendarii]

Unfortunately for men's cricket I think he just had 2 daughters.

Although if his daughters are interested in playing the game then I suppose there's a chance that international cricket hasn't seen the last of the Pollock name.

 

[StephenZA]

Although if his daughters are interested in playing the game then I suppose there's a chance that international cricket hasn't seen the last of the Pollock name.

We can hope... SA womens team can continue to improve with that sort of blood.

 

[Top_Cat]

I really don’t agree he could bat top-6 at Test level at all. For that, you better be having regular seasons where you’re among the best bats for your FC team and, well, Pollock’s FC numbers with the stick say it all; 6 tons in 180-odd games.

Nice technique and could strike them miles, but.

 

[StephenZA]

I really don’t agree he could bat top-6 at Test level at all. For that, you better be having regular seasons where you’re among the best bats for your FC team and, well, Pollock’s FC numbers with the stick say it all; 6 tons in 180-odd games.

Nice technique and could strike them miles, but.

All I was speculating; if he had concentrated on batting rather than bowling when he was younger could have been a top 6 bat, had the talent and skill....

 

[SeamUp]

Pollock always used to say batting was his hobby and bowling was his profession but there is no doubt he had the defensive technique and wide range of strokes to even do better than what he did. He was born with his talents because of the blood like Stephen says

The pull

 

[Borges]

Is there any reasonable evidence to suggest that the progeny of great cricketers are more likely to become great cricketers?

 

[Bolo]

Is there any reasonable evidence to suggest that the progeny of great cricketers are more likely to become great cricketers?

Pollock alone is reasonable evidence. The odds of any one random person becoming a great cricketer are tiny. There are plenty of other examples of father son or siblings who managed good careers.

For great to great it's not going to happen too often. Maybe ever again. There are just so few great players that even if an enormous genetic and upbringing advantage is imparted the chances of 2 generations being great is ridiculously small.

 

[vcs]

Pollock always used to say batting was his hobby and bowling was his profession but there is no doubt he had the defensive technique and wide range of strokes to even do better than what he did. He was born with his talents because of the blood like Stephen says

The pull

Good to see Youngakkara at the end taking the catch there. Some brutal pull shots.

 

[Borges]

That does not prove the fantastic assertion that he would have been a world class batsman if only he had chosen to be a batsman.
" if he had concentrated on batting at a young age would have been world class in that discipline When your father is Peter and your uncle is Graham it was pretty much choose what you want."

 

[SeamUp]

Good to see Youngakkara at the end taking the catch there. Some brutal pull shots.

Remember this series as went to the Newlands test every day. Gibbs was just back from his ban.

If I am not mistaken Dilshan and Sangakarra were at 5/6 and they were relatively new to the team and put on a couple of handy partnerships as the team were under the pump.

 

[Bolo]

I don't think anyone is claiming he would have necessarily been a fantastic top order bat if that had had been his focus, but rather that there is a reasonable likelihood that he would have been good enough to be a specialist bat.

He averaged low 30s as a bowling allrounder who neglected his batting. A number of RSA players from the 90s got good careers with mid 30s averages. Some managed decent careers with low 30s averages.

It's not much of a stretch to imagine Pollock could have stepped up his batting the fraction required to make the team as a specialist bat if he was focusing on his batting.