Shaun Pollock labelled Keshav Maharaj as the Proteas’ ‘best spinner for a long while’, after his performance in the Proteas’ series defeat to England.
Maharaj has had a phenomenal start to his Test career, backing up his performance in New Zealand (15 wickets @ 19.93 and a BBI of 6-40) to take 17 wickets @ 30.35 with a BBI of 4-85 in England’s 3-1 home defeat over the Proteas.
Pollock complimented the 27-year-old left-arm spinner on Sky Sports‘ website saying: ‘I think Keshav Maharaj is as good a spinner as we’ve had in South Africa for a long while.
‘He’s consistent, he’s accurate, he’s getting the ball to spin and he has been a real find for us.
‘We’ve tried three or four different options over a period of four or five years and finally, we’ve been able to settle on someone who has really done well.
‘You just have to look at his stats to see what he has achieved in the first part of his career – he’s been really, really impressive.
‘His major strength is just his accuracy, he’s played on some surfaces that have offered him assistance but I think the best for him is yet to come.
‘When you take him to the subcontinent on those Indian wickets that are really turning, he’ll be a big handful.’
The Proteas legend, who is South Africa’s leading wicket taker of all-time, also praised 25-year-old seamer Duanne Olivier, after the youngster equalled his career-best innings figures of 3-38.
‘I’ve also been very impressed with Duanne Olivier in this match,’ Pollock said about Olivier’s performance at Old Trafford.
‘He struggled at Trent Bridge where he was struggling to control the swing but in this game, we’ve seen a lot of scrambled-seam deliveries from him, he’s tried to hit a good length and be consistent – and he’s been rewarded with the three wickets. It’s been a vast improvement.’
‘The bowling attack were under a bit of pressure before this match,’ he continued.
‘South Africa came in with just the three seamers and Maharaj to bowl his spin so they’ve had a lot of work to do. It’s been a good effort by all of them and, as I said, a real improvement from Olivier.’
Photo: Philip Brown/Getty Images
