And Now Its Pollock

The past few months have seen quite a few high profile retirements, primarily from the Aussie camp – McGrath, Warne, Langer, etc – but also otherwise – Lara, Inzy. And now its Pollock.

Miserly, as he hates giving away any runs and has more than impressive economy rates in both forms of the game. The fiery, red-head and nippy youngster became the veteran work horse of the South African team and more specifically, the Protean pace attack.

He is known to have clicked in partnership with other bowlers – earlier Donald and more recently Ntini – and also support the other bowler and act as a heavy barrier in order to lock runflow from one end while things aren’t going well at the other.

He has been seen in contrasting roles, the wicket taker and the economical and enduring machine which just would not give away runs. He has performed equally and very well in both these roles. A point which has to be noted here is that towards the end of his career, he seemed a little less likely of picking up a wicket, and in the shorter form of the game, his tight, nagging, consistent and economical style seemed like a fall back option; a style he resorted to when he was unable to pick up wickets. But this is useless in the longer version. This is what may have resulted in his being dropped from the test side and then being brought back as a first change bowler for some matches.

Many of us, and most importantly and thankfully him were aware that he was into the final stages of his career and that soon, he would have to hang up his boots. It is in this context that one must commend him for the timing of his retirement. It could not have been better timed. He said that he wanted to be picked after being dropped for the first two tests against the West Indies and then announce his retirement as he did not want to be picked for emotional reasons but for the ability we all know he possesses. And when the situation came, he called time.

Even in the latter stages of his career, he was capable of bowling quick. He bowled a couple of really quick bouncers to batsmen as variations which clocked over 140kph on the speed gun. This probably means that although he was capable of bowling quick, Pollock understood that he had to tone down his pace so as to give more room for sustenance over a period of time. This is typical of Pollock.

He played mind games with the batsmen, certainly not as much as someone of the likes of Shane Warne, but Pollock had his own style. He would keep the ball pitching on the six pence most of the time. But, you could count on there being that odd ball, which would be just a couple of centimetres hither or thither that spot. That ball almost unfailingly, would have the batsman in trouble. Many batsmen of the world were probably fooled by the simplicity of the strategy itself.

He is a classic example of the theory that as a pace bowler, one does not necessarily require genuine pace to get past batsmen.

When I switch on the Television and see Shaun Pollock bowling, I’d like to continue watching not just because of his immaculate and tight areas, but because of his capability to produce some peaches. To get the outside edge of the bat when the batsman is playing correctly for the line and bounce of the ball with the pitch playing truly, is an art of which Pollock was a master. He did not move the ball four feet laterally. After all, that would only beat the batsmen, for the bat is only 5 inches wide. He only moved it two and a half inches, and that’s all he needed to move it, for that much movement would ensure that the ball would clip the outside edge of the bats in the hands of even the best.

Everyone is content and pleased with Shaun Pollock’s performances – with batting being the exception – and realise that his time has come. However, the simplicity of Pollock’s game is one thing you are left wanting more of. Shaun Maclean Pollock’s game had a simplicity which – ironically – is complex to achieve; a simplicity, which not many others are exhibits of; a simplicity which will be missed for long years to come.-BS