Rating the last five South African Test captains 

#2 Shaun Pollock

Shaun Pollock's very first series was an away series in Sri Lanka

South African cricket went through one of its most turbulent periods in history when their talismanic captain Hansie Cronje was banned for match-fixing. There was complete turmoil and that was the sort of situation in which their star bowler and all-rounder Shaun Pollock became the captain, back in 2000.

His very first series was an away series in Sri Lanka, a venue where South Africa were supposed to struggle but the team performed well and went away with a 1-1 draw in the 3 game Test series.

After home series wins against Sri Lanka and New Zealand, South Africa won 2-1 in the West Indies in 2001 and that was Pollock's finest hour as captain as it was their first ever Test series win in the region.

However, following home series win against India in the same year, South Africa were humbled in Australia and lost all Test matches to end up losing the series 3-0. It was Pollock's worst defeat as captain and despite the fact that he won the next three Test series, his captaincy was doomed due to South Africa's exit from the 2003 World Cup at home.

He captained in 26 Tests and won 14 of them while drawing and losing 5 each. He recorded a win percentage of 53.84 but it can be argued that he lost his captaincy not because of his poor performances as a Test captain but due to the debacle of the 2003 World Cup.