Ahead of Shaun Pollock's retirement, both of South Africa's remaining two ODIs against the West Indies have sold out.
Kingsmead preparing for international swansong
Shaun Pollock is set to receive a send-off to remember from international cricket after it was revealed that both of South Africa's remaining two one-day internationals against West Indies have sold out.
The 34-year-old will bid his international goodbye at the end of the current one-day series on Sunday - a series which South Africa have already won after taking an unassailable 3-0 lead.
And, despite South Africa's comprehensive victory - not to mention some of the more flamboyant plans for the swansong falling by the wayside - Pollock's appearance at his home ground of Durban on Friday will still be one to remember.
"We thought of flying him in by helicopter but that plan was scrapped," Kwazulu-Natal Cricket Union president Cassim Docrat told
www.news24.com.
"But his old school, Northlands, will be providing him with a guard of honour and his older daughter Jemma will come out onto the field with him.
"His whole family, including his father, Peter, and all his brothers and sisters and all the children, will be in the president's suite to watch Shaun play his last match at Kingsmead.
"There will be a couple of presentations to him during the dinner break and we have also had a Polly Parade banner competition."
Perfect goodbye
Proteas captain Graeme Smith said the team also wanted to give Pollock the perfect goodbye.
"We want to give Polly a really good send-off - the send-off he deserves," he said.
"There have been times during this series when we've all had lumps in our throats, but we also want to be clinical and ruthless in winning the match.
"It has been fantastic to see the kind of reception Polly has had from great crowds and at times we have had to protect him a bit.
"But it is a measure of his professionalism that all the attention hasn't affected his performance at all. He's kept a lid on all the thousands of things everyone's trying to do for him, and he's concentrated on the game.
"The guys are very happy to have been part of Polly's farewell and they're very grateful that they've been able to perform well.
"That was the nerve-racking aspect going into the series - that we wouldn't perform well, and that Shaun would leave on a lesser note."
