Former South African skipper Shaun Pollock labelled Proteas left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj as the ‘best spinner for a long time’ after his impressive performance in the Test series against England which the Proteas eventually lost by a 1-3 margin.
Despite staging a dramatic comeback in the 2nd Test, South Africa couldn’t quite carry on their good work and ended up losing the last two matches by big margins to surrender the series to England.
Maharaj has been a promising prospect for the Proteas and has started off his career with a bang. After bagging 15 wickets against New Zealand at an average of 19.93, the left-arm spinner followed it up with 17 wickets against England at an average of 30.35. He bowled in the right areas and the South African batsmen were tested on a regular basis.
“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,” Pollock was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.
“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,” he further added.
Pollock, who is the leading wicket taker for the Proteas in Tests also heaped praise on right-arm seamer Duanne Olivier after he bagged career best figures of 3/38.
“I’ve also been very impressed with Duanne Olivier in this match,” Pollock said. “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 was under a bit of pressure before this match. 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,” said Pollock.
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