Pollock accepts ODI trophy

2008-04-22 18:21

Johannesburg - Shaun Pollock officially received the ICC ODI trophy for the World's No 1 ranked team on behalf of Proteas ODI squad captain Graeme Smith and Cricket South Africa (CSA) at a ceremony in Mumbai.

The presentation was made by ICC CEO Malcolm Speed and also attended by Australian captain Ricky Ponting. Smith was not able to attend because of his commitments to the Cape Cobras in the Standard Bank Pro20 semi-finals.

Pollock is currently playing for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League T20 series.

The trophy arrived at the CSA's head office in Johannesburg on Tuesday with former SA coach and current ICC match referee Mike Procter having the honour of escorting it on its journey.

"It is wonderful to be recognized by your peers and by the ICC rankings system," commented Pollock from Mumbai.

"The guys have played some very good cricket over a consistent period of time and put in a lot of hard work. They fully deserve to be rewarded in this way.

"I watched their series in Bangladesh on TV and was most impressed by their performance. Well done to Graeme and everybody who has been in the Standard Bank ODI squad for the past couple of years."

Pollock said he was "at peace" with his decision to retire from international cricket. "There comes a time to move on and I know that that time has arrived for me. I will be very happy playing in the Indian Premier League and taking an interest in how the South African players are doing at international level."

The Proteas displaced Australia as the world's No 1 ranked team following their ODI series win over Bangladesh which followed Australia's home ODI defeat against India.

- SAPA