Magnificent maiden
century for Pollock rips game away from Sri Lanka
Peter Robinson - 20
January 2001
Neil McKenzie had the best view of all of Shaun Pollock's
majestic maiden Test century on the opening day of the
third and final Castle Lager/MTN Test match against Sri
Lanka at
SuperSport Park. "It was like a highlights package
all by itself," said McKenzie on Saturday
night.
Pollock's wonderful 111, scored in his 51st Test match,
enabled South Africa to reach 375 for
nine at the end of a memorable first day. It was an
emotional moment for the South African
captain, who has always argued that he needed a century
to prove himself a genuine
all-rounder, and it came two Test matches after taking
his 200th Test wicket.
In other words, it has taken some time for Pollock who
has gradually slipped down the order to nine and had to
endure the ribbing of his lower-order team-mates, the
likes of Nicky Boje, Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener who
all Test centuries to their name.
But if it took a long time coming, it was all the more
special for it. When Pollock came to the
crease after tea following the contentious run out of
Justin Kemp, South Africa were 204 for
seven and Sanath Jayasuriya's decision to bowl first
appeared to have been entirely
vindicated.
Pollock, however, had looked in excellent form in a
despairing attempt to win the sixth one-day international
at the Wanderers and he picked up on Saturday where he
had left off on Wednesday.
"I can't really explain it," he said. "I
tried a couple of cuts and the ball came off the ball
sweetly and went for four. It was just one of those
days."
Most certainly it was. As he laid about the attack the
Sri Lankan bowlers lost the "in-between" length
that had caused so many problems for South Africa's top
order and started to dig it in short. And the shorter
they bowled, the further Pollock hit them.
He made 45 out of the first 50 in partnership with
McKenzie and by the time the latter was out after the
pair had put on 150 for the eighth wicket a South
African record Pollock had made 108 of them.
McKenzie's contribution should not be underestimated. His
103 was his second Test century
and without it, South Africa would surely have been
dismissed for less than 250. But it is the
nature of these things that Pollock's effort captured all
the plaudits and, no doubt, all Sunday's headlines.
He was simply terrific, reaching three figures off 95
balls and finally departing after hitting 16
fours and three sixes, almost all of them struck as
sweetly as his first couple of cuts.
The Sri Lankans had held sway for the first two sessions,
despite the absence of their two
senior bowlers, Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan.
In Vaas' place was Ruchira Perera,
flown in from Kenya on Friday night and thrown into his
fourth Test within hours of landing.
For the first few hours, though, Sri Lanka bowled
extremely well and even though the scoring
rate seldom dipped below four to the over, wickets fell
too regularly for the comfort of a 12
000 home crowd.
Boeta Dippenaar (20), Daryll Cullinan (48) and Mark
Boucher (38) all looked in excellent touch
before getting out as the bounce in the pitch made itself
felt. But Pollock ripped the game
away from Sri Lanka with the most exciting cricket of the
entire summer.
There is still a fair deal of bounce in the pitch as was
demonstrated when the second new ball accounted for both
McKenzie and Pollock and local opinion has it that the
strip will play quicker on days two and three. If the Sri
Lankans can bat as half as well as Pollock on a thrilling
first day, this could become a spectacular Test match.