Cricinfo - Players and Officials

Full name Peter Maclean Pollock
Born June 30, 1941, Pietermaritzburg, Natal
Current age 67 years 51 days
Major teams South Africa, Eastern Province
Also known as Pooch
Batting style Right-hand bat
Bowling style Right-arm fast
Relations Father - AM Pollock, Uncle - R Howden, Brother - RG Pollock, Son - SM Pollock, Nephew - AG Pollock, Nephew - GA Pollock

Batting and fielding averages

Mat

Inns

Runs

Ave

100

Tests

607

75*

21.67

First-class

127

177

3028

22.59

List A

176

42*

29.33

Bowling averages

Mat

Inns

Balls

Runs

Wkts

BBI

BBM

Ave

Econ

Tests

6522

2806

116

6/38

10/87

24.18

2.58

56.2

First-class

127

19064

10620

485

7/19

21.89

3.34

39.3

List A

496

276

5/51

15.33

3.33

27.5

Career statistics

Test debut

South Africa v New Zealand at Durban, Dec 8-12, 1961 scorecard

Last Test

South Africa v Australia at Port Elizabeth, Mar 5-10, 1970 scorecard

Test statistics

First-class span

1958/59 - 1971/72

List A span

1969/70 - 1971/72

South African cricket's debt to Peter Pollock is threefold: as the country's premier fast bowler during the 1960s, the last decade before South Africa's international isolation; as convener of selectors during the 1990s, when he gave an inexperienced team a vision and pattern (unsurprisingly based on disciplined and relentless seam bowling) that has made the side one of the game's top two teams; and as Shaun Pollock's father he played a not insignificant role in providing South Africa with a Test captain and one of the world's leading allrounders.

The older Pollock brother ("Pooch" to Graeme's "Little Dog") learned his trade bowling to one of cricket's greatest batsmen in the backyard of their Port Elizabeth home. Something of a tearaway as a young bowler, Pollock never really lost his killer instinct even as age and dodgy knees began to take their toll. He formed a productive partnership with the Rhodesian swing bowler Joe Partridge in Australia in 1963-64 which enabled South Africa unexpectedly to draw the series 2-2, and another at the end of the decade with a youthful Mike Procter as Australia were beaten 3-1 and 4-0 in successive home series.

For the Pollock brothers, though, few moments in their careers eclipsed the 1965 Trent Bridge Test, when Peter took 5 for 53 and 5 for 34 and Graeme made 125 and 59 as South Africa won by 94 runs, a victory that enabled them to take the three-Test series 1-0. Peter took 116 wickets in 28 Tests at 24.18 and also made two fifties to average 21.67 as a handy lower-order batsman. A trained journalist, Peter is a lay preacher, and there are few more astute (or single-minded) judges in the game.
Peter Robinson

Feb 1, 2008

Shaun Pollock receives a memento from his father Peter © Getty Images



Peter Pollock © The Cricketer International



Peter Pollock © The Cricketer International

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