INTERNATIONAL FIXTURES FOR SOUTH AFRICA
Season Months Venue & Opposition Tests ODI's
2000/01 July Triangular in Sri Lanka (SL, PAK) 0 4+
2000/01 Jul-Aug AWAY v Sri Lanka 3 0
2000/01 Aug One Day Series (Away) - AUS 0 3
2000/01 Aug Triangular in Singapore (IND, NZ) 0 2+
2000/01 Jul-Aug SA "A" to West Indies 2 3
2000/01 Oct-Dec HOME v New Zealand 3 6
2000/01 Dec-Jan HOME v Sri Lanka 3 6
2000/01 Feb-Mar AWAY v West Indies 5 7
2001/02 Sept AWAY v Zimbabwe 2 0
2001/02 Oct-Nov HOME v India 3 7
2001/02 Dec-Jan AWAY v Australia 3 8/11
2001/02 Feb-Apr HOME v Australia 3 7
2002/03 Sept HOME v Zimbabwe 2 0
2002/03 ?? HOME v Sri Lanka/Pakistan 6 10
2002/03 Nov-Jan HOME v West Indies 6 7
2003/04 Feb-Mar HOME: World Cup in South Africa 0 +
2003 ? AWAY v England ? ?
M Y F A V O U R I T E P L A Y E R S
LANCE KLUSENER"Go big or go home" is Lance Klusener's motto, an approach never more clearly demonstrated than when his powerful hitting earned him the player of the tournament award at the 1999 World Cup. It wasn't always the case, though, for "Zulu", who was told at school to concentrate on his batting because he wasn't big enough to become a bowler. He went off, grew up a little, beefed up a tad and broke into first-class cricket with Natal as an aggressive fast bowler who could take care of himself with the bat down the order. Indeed, it was as a bowler (dislodging Fanie de Villiers from the side), that Klusener made his Test debut at Eden Gardens in 1996. It wasn't the most auspicious of starts as Mohammad Azharuddin pasted him all over the ground in the first innings, but with Allan Donald injured, Klusener took the new ball in the second innings and claimed eight for 64 as South Africa stormed to victory. Three Tests later, Klusener took a 100-ball hundred off India at Newlands. Enjoy it while you can, advised Clive Rice, it might not happen again as long as you play. Klusener, though, has gone to fulfill much of this early promise. When an ankle injury forced him out of South Africa's 1998 tour of England, he returned home to work on his batting. In contrast to most batsmen, however, Klusener practised hitting the bad ball and this approach paid off at the World Cup as time and again he hit South Africa out of trouble. He is more than a slogger, though, as he demonstrated with 174 in the second Test against England last summer. As a result of the injury, he lost a little of his zip as a bowler, but he has learned greater variation and is still a key member of the South African attack. South Africa's biggest problem with Klusener now is how and where exactly to use him. Up the order? In the middle? During the last 15 overs? This has still not been satisfactorily resolved. Then again, it's a dilemma many countries would love to have.
SHAUN POLLOCK
Considering the type of stuff floating around in his gene pool, it would have been surprising if Shaun Pollock had not been an international cricketer - and a very good one at that. Dad Peter led the South African attack through the 1960s; uncle Graeme was one of the finest, if not the finest, left-hander to play the game. Shaun has bits of both in his makeup, but it is as an immaculate, Hadlee-esque, line and length seamer that he has established himself. At the start of his first-class career, though, he was both slippery and aggressive and his Natal team-mates delighted in totting up the number of batsmen he pinned match after match. He was brought into the South African Test side against Michael Atherton's England tourists in 1995/96 and although his father was the convener of selectors, there was never a hint of nepotism and the younger Pollock took quickly to the higher level. In 1996 he had a spell with Warwickshire cut short because of an ankle injury and missed the tour to India at the end of that year. But he soon returned to resume his new-ball partnership with Allan Donald and this pairing was the springboard of much of South Africa's success during the latter half of the 1990s. Indeed, it is possible to argue that the emergence of Pollock inspired Donald to greater heights as the latter found himself with a partner who both complemented and challenged him. Perhaps the straightest bowler in world cricket, Pollock is able to move the ball both ways at a lively pace. He also possesses stamina and courage in abundance as in proved in Adelaide in 1998 when he toiled on hour after hour in blazing heat to take seven for 87 in 41 overs on a perfect batting pitch. If there is a criticism of Pollock, it is that he has underperformed with the bat, but most Test teams would be perfectly happy to have him in their side if he never scored a run. Pollock was thrust into the captaincy in April when Hansie Cronje was drummed out of the game, and he now faces the biggest challenge of his career - to lift a shocked and demoralised South African side. If he can disprove the maxim that fast bowlers should not be appointed captain, it might well prove to be his greatest achievement.
Top - Pollock bowls to a Windies batsman.
Two - Klusener takes Cairns' Wicket.
Three - Pollock exults at taking the last Australian wicket.
Four - Klusener hits a boundary as Donald looks on.
Five - Pollock appeals for LBW.
Six - Klusener hits a single. 
My province..Northerns. 
The SuperSport Park in Centurion, home of the Titans and a regular Test venue. |
