Following moving scenes at cricket stadiums around the country where spectators bid farewell to Shaun Pollock playing in his last ODIs, cricket personalities themselves paid tribute at the Wanderers on Sunday to one of the greatest cricketers to grace South African fields.
On Pollock’s playing ability, former national team captain Kepler Wessels said "clearly Shaun is one of the greatest players to ever play for South Africa. He has made a major contribution over a 12-year period not only on the field of play but also off it with the example that he set. It is sad to see him retire but he has gone out at the right time -- he has gone out while he is still at the top.”
Former Zimbabwean bowler and now SuperSport commentator Mpumelelo ‘Pommy’ Mbangwa said Pollock had left a legacy. “To be in the business for as long as he has and to maintain those standards for that long, there will be a lot for South African young cricketers to try to emulate and if anyone else reaches those heights then South African cricket would have done well.
“He is, without doubt in my mind, one of world cricket’s legends. To play in about 100 tests, taking about 400 wickets, just under 400 as well in 300-odd ODIs, and the fact that he could bat and he captained the side is incredible. He played in a good team and he was a major part of why the team was good.”
Mbangwa admitted that it was a daunting proposition to play against the man.
One quality that was common in all the tributes was his humble personality. “What stands out about Shaun when you meet him and talk to him and that has also been confirmed in the way that spectators have turned out to watch him in his last five games is that he has been cricket’s good guy,” added Mbangwa.
Pollock’s former Dolphins teammate and Zimbabwe batsman Neil Johnson concurred. “Shaun is comfortably the greatest person and cricketer I ever played with. As a human being he never altered on his standards, never dipped himself and never got above his station. He is just an incredible man”.
'AN INSPIRATION TO ALL'
Johnson emphasised Pollock’s humility. “From the youngest to the oldest everyone looks up to him, but he’d never let you look up at him because he’d be on your level anyway. He’s an inspiration to all. The impact he’s had has been phenomenal and being such a great player he didn’t allow himself to be a great player -- he didn’t strut around and he always kept a level head,” said Johnson with a look of nostalgic admiration.
“What he was also able to do to was to hand over a lot of knowledge that he’d gained through his career. The impact that Shaun had on someone like Makhaya Ntini was unbelievable because Makhaya could just be himself and run in to bowl while Shaun kept control from the other end.”
Renowned cricket fundi, writer and commentator Neil Manthorp also heaped praise on Pollock’s ability to analyse the game. “As a cricketer from an early age he had this curiosity to know how things worked. He wasn’t just happy with the fact that he was very good, he wanted to know the technicalities.”
The influence on Ntini emerged again. “He became his own coach, but he also became a coach and mentor to many other players and Makhaya Ntini for example will be the first to admit that Shaun learnt everything like pitch and match conditions, the right length to bowl, a batsman’s strengths and weaknesses - all that, Makhaya was always willing to do but he didn’t need to because Shaun would have done that already and done it so well,” said Manthorp.
Manthorp also had volumes to say about Pollock as a quality human being. “As a person, Shaun was one of the few cricketers who took an interest in those around him. It is not a player’s job to worry about people outside the team, but if there was a journalist or even supporters who had made the trip to Sri Lanka, India, the West Indies or wherever it was, he made sure he always said hello. I’m just one of thousands who will miss him.”
Veteran journalist Rodney Hartman also reflected with fondness: “The statistics tell the story about Shaun Pollock. The incredible consistency that he has shown in the 12 years that he played, but what the stats don’t show is the attitude that he had and for me he has been the ultimate professional. He has been the senior pro in the team for so long but still there was nothing that he was not prepared to take on, from taking the new ball, accepting the captaincy, whatever. It is as a consummate professional that I will miss Shaun Pollock.”
“There is no question that in the world of cricket, he is truly one of the world greats. One only needs to look at where he is positioned and it is only when he has gone that the impact will be felt, and people will look back and put him up there with the great allrounders, not only in this country but in the world.”
Former West Indian batsman Jimmy Adams also thought “Pollock is one of the greatest allrounders to ever play the game. The way in which he went about executing his skills over the years and the way in which he carried himself have ensured that he has been a credit not only to the game but to his country. He has been an inspiration to a generation of young people worldwide.
“If he continues to maintain these standards in whatever else he does, the country of South Africa will have had a model citizen in Shaun Pollock,” concluded Adams.
From the reaction of the public alone in Pollock’s last five ODIs, his name has to be enshrined on the list of world cricket legends
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