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Ever since Shaun Pollock arrived on the cricketing scene, everyone expected him to reproduce the legendary status of his Uncle & Father, there was alot of weight on his shoulders as he knew his family's reputation needed to be carried on in the sport, & he never failed them once!

He is, in my opinion SA's best pace bowler & we are lucky as a nation to have such a brilliant all rounder in our team. He has captained the SA team but his postion was taken away after the country's embrassment in the World Cup of 2003, where by the 2 batsmen at the crease misread the info on the page regarding the DWL method.

Although his captaincy had been stripped, he had no ill feelings & still gave it his all, he helped out is successor in almost every game in his first year & still does in this time.

Now after all his brilliant performances for South Africa's esp his bowling, he is placed on the top of the ICC ODI's Top bowler rankings as the worlds most consistant bowler. He leads Australia's Glen McGrath by a massive 118 points in the rankings.

With the world cup just a few weeks away, Im sure this will boost his confidence to do even better this world cup & make up for the mistakes in the last.

Well done Polly , you make us proud :applause:

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Polly moves up ICC rankings

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The 33-year-old took a remarkable 2-13 off ten overs in his country's most recent ODI against Pakistan in Cape Town cementing his place as one of the most consistent one-day bowlers in the world.

This moves Pollock up to a personal best rating of 910 points and clear leader at the top of the current ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers. He is an outstanding 118 points ahead of Australia's Glenn McGrath in second place.

Pollock is now ranked fourth in the all-time list, just three ratings points behind Muttiah Muralidaran's best ever rating of 913 that he managed against New Zealand in April 2002.

The all-time list is headed by West Indies fast bowler Joel Garner, who reached 940 points after playing New Zealand in 1985 while Kiwi legend Richard Hadlee is in second spot with 923 points, a mark he reached against Sri Lanka in 1983.

Only five ODI bowlers in history have passed the magic 900-point mark with the fifth being McGrath, who managed it back in March 2002.

Meanwhile, Pollock's South Africa teammate Makhaya Ntini is also making moves in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers, having gone up two places to third spot overall.

The 29-year-old fast bowler has moved past New Zealand slow left-armer Daniel Vettori and Australia pacer Brett Lee, giving an idea of why the Proteas are such a strong one-day side at the moment.

South Africans Andrew Hall and Charl Langeveldt are also upwardly mobile, with Hall moving up six places to 19th position and Langeveldt up 10 places to 41st spot.

It has also been a big week for Bangladesh's Mashrafe bin Mortaza who is placed 11th in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI bowlers. If he continues the way he is going he could become the first player from his country to enter the top ten in any category.

England's improvements have been illustrated by the fact that it now has two players in the top ten of the ICC Player Rankings for ODI all-rounders. Andrew Flintoff has moved up one place to third position while Paul Collingwood has broken into the top ten for the first time, moving up four places to seventh spot.

Pollock is still the top ranked all-rounder with Chris Gayle of the West Indies in second place.

Collingwood is enjoying a successful spell at present and apart from the all-rounder rankings he has also reached his personal best in the ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen having moved up no fewer than 16 places to 23rd position.

There are also career bests for Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka, who has moved up three places to fifth spot and England's Ian Bell, who is now 31st.

The ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen are still headed by Mike Hussey with his Australia team-mate Ricky Ponting in second place and England's Kevin Pietersen in third spot.

Source: www.sasi.co.za

Another stella performance from him yesterday, 5-23

WE ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!!
:banana:

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Australia's fifth loss in six matches sees it slip from the summit for first time

South Africa takes the lead in LG ICC ODI Championship table

February 18, 2007

South Africa is the new leader in the LG ICC ODI Championship table.

The Proteas have taken over at the summit of the table following Australia's five-wicket loss to New Zealand in Auckland on Sunday which cost Michael Hussey's side two rating points.

And even if Australia wins the final match of its three-match series against the Black Caps, in Hamilton on Tuesday, it will not be enough for it to regain top spot.

It is the first time since the listings began in October 2002 that Australia has not occupied top position.

The side that leads the table on 1 April stands to win US$175,000, with US$75,000 going to the second-placed team and so, with the ICC Cricket World Cup starting in the Caribbean on 13 March, there is still an opportunity for Australia to regain top spot ahead of that cut-off date.

South Africa has taken over thanks to an outstanding recent run of form in the past 12 months. Since it failed to qualify for the finals of the tri-series against Australia and Sri Lanka last February it has won 15 of its next 21 matches.

That run includes a 3-2 series win over Australia, sealed when it scored a then world-record 438-9 at Johannesburg, as well as seven wins from its last eight completed matches.

Form like that has lifted South Africa's rating by 10 points since the end of February 2006 while, during that same period, Australia's rating has slipped by seven points, not helped by five losses in its last six matches including Sunday's reverse at Eden Park.

New Zealand's victory, which secures the Chappell-Hadlee Trophy, has lifted it to 111 rating points and it now only trails third-placed Pakistan when the ratings are recalculated to three decimal places.

If Stephen Fleming's side can complete a 3-0 clean sweep on Tuesday then it will overtake Inzamam-ul-Haq's side, a timely boost for the side that failed to reach the tri-series final against Australia and England earlier this month.

India, meanwhile, is only two rating points further back in fifth place having moved ahead of Sri Lanka thanks to its 2-1 series win, completed with a seven-wicket victory over Mahela Jayawardene's side in Visakapatnam on Saturday.

To track movements in the table, visit the odi predictor where you can see how it will unfold with all possible combinations of results.

Brian Murgatroyd is ICC Manager - Media and Communications

© ICC

good to see that we are...now bring on the WC...with oz falling to pieces a bit at the moment...us winning in the local series...and the poms having bloated egos after winning the aus series while still playing like shite...the WC is gonna be fun to watch...but BOY is it bloody long!!!

Hope the stadia are actually complete, cos some will only be ready a week into the tourni...thats a shocker

good to see that we are...now bring on the WC...with oz falling to pieces a bit at the moment...us winning in the local series...and the poms having bloated egos after winning the aus series while still playing like shite...the WC is gonna be fun to watch...but BOY is it bloody long!!!

Hope the stadia are actually complete, cos some will only be ready a week into the tourni...thats a shocker

one of my favourites hahahahaha :bash:

New ICC President, Percy Sonn, claimed that the West Indies is further ahead than South Africa was in 2003, the venue for the last tournament.

"I think the West Indies is, relatively speaking, ahead of where South Africa was, vis-a-vis the final stages of this phase, given that they (the West Indies) are building new stadiums," said the South African-born Sonn.

"South Africa didn't build any new stadiums - they just improved on the old stadiums. I think the West Indies are fine and further than where South Africa was."

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lol, yep they much ahead of us :lol:

haha so you are considered more ahead if you build new stadiums and dont finish them than if you merely refurb your existing ones....mmmm daft logic....and i sense a tad arrogant damage control for the west indies faltering start