Mr Do-it-All

Shaun Pollock is one of the few players to have been involved in two tied matches in World Cup cricket. Unfortunately for him, both matches ended South Africa's run in the tournament. One of these tied matches led to Pollock being stripped of his captaincy in 2003 at home, but he has since fought back and is today one of the world's premier all-rounders.

Most would consider Pollock to be a medium pace bowler who can bat a bit lower down the order, but his record suggests otherwise. And although the World Cup hasn't been his favourite tournament, there are more celebrated players who have done worse.

In 21 appearances in World Cups, he has scored 216 runs with a solitary score of 50-plus (52 against Pakistan in 1999) and his average of 18 is well below his career average of 24-plus. The last year and a bit has seen Pollock's stock rise again with some outstanding performances. In ODIs since January 2006, Pollock's batting average has shot up to nearly 30 while the bowling average has fallen to below 18! He's scored 379 runs in 21 games and picked up 32 wickets as well.

More recently against India, Pollock was as miserly as ever. One of his biggest assets is the ability to stick to line and length and dry up the runs from his end. In fact, his career economy rate stands at an excellent 3.72 but the economy rate since January 1, 2006 is an even miserly 2.98.

It's not only his batting and bowling, though, which makes him indispensable to South Africa's plans. His experience (269 ODIs; 21 in World Cups) and the fact that he is a respected adviser to the team add to his value. Graeme Smith does have a do-it-all man in Shaun Pollock in his side.

Some may not agree with Smith's (and the team's) plan of bowling him first change but that has no impact on his effectiveness or dedication to the team. Playing in perhaps his last World Cup, Pollock is one player who will want to correct a lot of things from previous tournaments and bring home the elusive trophy. They have been almost there on the past few occasions!

PHOTOS © AP