St George's Park History

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

The Matches

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THE South African cricket team finally gave Port Elizabeth fans something to cheer about this summer when they beat the West Indies by seven wickets in the third MTN one-day international at the Sahara Oval St George’s yesterday.

Until yesterday, the Proteas had played three matches in the city this season and lost all three encounters.

They were on the wrong end against New Zealand in a day-night match in late November and also lost both the Standard Bank Pro20 and the Castle Test match against the West Indies just before the New Year.

But Graeme Smith’s men gained sweet revenge over their Caribbean opponents yesterday thanks to an unbeaten century from Jacques Kallis. It also provided Shaun Pollock with a grandstand finish to his international career in Port Elizabeth. Pollock is to retire from international cricket after the fifth and final one-dayer at the Wanderers on Sunday.

After helping his team to clinch the series 3-0 in the Friendly City, with two matches still to come, he received a rapturous standing ovation at the completion of his allotted overs.

And at the end of the match Pollock, born in Port Elizabeth in 1973, waved an emotional goodbye to his Port Elizabeth fans during a lap of honour.

Smith was a happy man last night. "It’s good to win here again," he said. "I think we haven’t played well enough here in the past. The wicket here is different to a lot of other places."

Play was disrupted when three streakers invaded the field. The game, however, resumed after security removed the guilty parties.

The Herald
January 28, 2008.