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Sell-out crowd for Polly finale
01/02/2008 12:31 - (SA)
Durban - The Polly Parade reaches its climax this weekend when veteran bowler Shaun
Pollock plays his last matches for South Africa at Kingsmead on Friday and
at the Wanderers on Sunday.
With an unassailable three-nil lead over the West Indies in the five-match
MTN one-day international series, the Proteas will be looking for a series
whitewash, but they will also be hoping to give Pollock the send-off he
deserves.
Friday's match is a sell-out, and KwaZulu-Natal cricket union chief Cassim
Docrat said on Thursday that there were various plans to celebrate the
union's favourite son.
"We thought of flying him in by helicopter, but that plan was scrapped,"
said Docrat. "But his old school, Northlands, will be providing him with a
guard of honour and his older daughter Jemma will come out onto the field
with him.
Couple of presentations
"His whole family, including his father, Peter, and all his brothers and
sisters and all the children, will be in the president's suite to watch
Shaun play his last match at Kingsmead," said Docrat.
"There will be a
couple of presentations to him during the dinner break, and we have also had
>a Polly Parade banner competition."
With all the attention on Pollock, who represented South Africa in 108 Tests
and 301 ODIs so far, it would be easy for the Proteas to be distracted, but
captain Graeme Smith said on Thursday that this would not happen.
"We want to give Polly a really good send-off - the send-off he deserves,"
he said.
"There have been times during this series that we've all had lumps
in our throats, but we also want to be clinical and ruthless in winning the
match. It has been fantastic to see the kind of reception Polly has had
from great crowds, and at times we have had to protect him a bit. But it is
a measure of his professionalism that all the attention hasn't affected his
performance at all. He's kept a lid on all the thousands of things
everyone's trying to do for him, and he's concentrated on the game.
"The guys are very happy to have been part of Polly's farewell and they're
very grateful that they've been able to perform well. That was the
nerve-racking aspect going into the series - that we wouldn't perform well,
and that Shaun would leave on a lesser note."
Smith said Justin Ontong would not play on Friday, as he's still recovering
from a knee injury, but Makhaya Ntini, who has not played in the series so
far, would probably play and that spin bowler Johan Botha would almost
definitely play.
"It looks like a very good batting wicket, and I think we'll need the option
of a change of pace," said Smith.
"There will probably be one or two changes in the team. There are several
guys pushing for places, and there are some who have to prove themselves,
and the competition within the team is very good for us."
Smith said there was no need for extra motivation for the last two matches.
"That's a given," he said. "We have pride in our performance. We've worked
to reach a level in our cricket where we can be up with the best in the
world consistently. It's a given for me that the guys know what's required
of them - we're professionals, and that's what we do. We're talking about
extra stuff now, like Polly, as motivation, but that's what's required of
them day to day as a team."
Squads:
Proteas:
Graeme Smith (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Mark Boucher, Shaun Pollock, Albie Morkel, Johan Botha, Morne Morkel, Andre Nel, Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt, Makhaya Ntini.
West Indies:
Dwayne Bravo (captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Fidel Edwards, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Rawl Lewis, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Patrick Browne, Brenton Parchment, Darren Sammy, Devon Smith, Sewnerine Chattergoon, Ravi Rampaul.
- SAPA
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