from supercricket.co.za October 04, 2002
"Bowl, bowl" was the not so silent chant at 2.15pm on Thursday from those
wanting a short and sweet game against Bangladesh as Shaun Pollock strode out
for the toss. He won the toss and was going to bowl too, until an Afrikaans
voice boomed through the air and caught the South African captain's ear.
"I heard this big guy shout 'Pollock, you better make sure you win the toss,
because I don't want to be back home with my wife at 5pm," the skipper recalled
on Thursday night.
This is Piet van Zyl territory after all, so he changed his mind and chose to
bat instead. It's a good thing he did too, because, with Bangladesh slumping to
25-5 at one stage, local cricket lovers would have been robbed of another
brilliant Herschelle Gibbs innings had Pollock indeed chosen to bowl first.
Gibbs was at his imperious best on Thursday against a powderpuff attack,
stroking 153 off just 130 balls
with 17 fours and three sixes for his third one-day international hundred in a
row. He became only the third player - the others being Pakistan's Zaheer Abbas
and Saeed Anwar - to achieve that feat.
Gibbs is such an important component of the South African team and his continued
good form will be a key element in determining just how well the hosts do in
next year's World Cup.
Gibbs revealed he was working on a new approach: "In the past I've been guilty
of wanting to get things going too early. But I feel the more I give myself the
chance to play myself in, the more momentum I can get," he said.
He said he was aware of the team's reliance on his current good form. "I just
like to keep it simple and get on with it". Which is just as well, because
keeping things simple is what he does best