Mark Smit
14 January 2008
Durban — The changing of the guard was there for all to see at Kingsmead this weekend.
As Shaun Pollock was chaired off the field by his team-mates after a 12-year career for SA that could only be termed stellar, the new kid on the block, Dale Steyn, was celebrating figures of 6/72.
He had polished off the West Indian tail to give the South Africans victory by an innings and 100 runs in the deciding Test of the three-match series. The teams had gone to Kinsgmead level at 1-1.
There was something very studied about the way Pollock bade farewell. He had been ignored by the national selectors for a year in Test cricket.
But only last week, management said that they wanted Pollock to remain in the setup for the next 18 months.
After all, the tough tours are still coming up -- to India, England and Australia. They didn't want the great man playing in the Test team, but they wanted him there just in case.
By announcing his retirement on Friday, after a great spell of bowling in the West Indian first innings -- he took 4/35 in 11 overs and bowled consistently at speeds well in excess of 130km/h -- Pollock seemed to be telling the selectors that if they were not going to use him, they were not going to have him.
There has been a profound reluctance on the part of the national selectors to pass final judgment on whether Pollock's Test days were numbered or not.
He had been posing questions for at least two years. He had been moved from the frontline attack to a role as backup bowler when it became apparent that he no longer had the strike power he once had.
But the selectors kept on saying there was "still a role for Polly to play".
It seems Pollock finally decided that there was no role in Test cricket and he retired. To make it worse for the selectors, he also announced that he would quit one-day cricket after the games against the West Indies.
Because of the selection team's ambivalence, Pollock has probably retired one season too early. All of those who were present at Kingsmead during the momentous event suggested that Pollock, with his ability to hit the seam on a regular basis, would be a big factor in England, where the wickets are spin friendly.
Now they have no choice but to look ahead, to the likes of Morne Morkel, who has been earmarked as the successor to Pollock, and Steyn, to carry SA into a new era.
Pollock's career has been one of great distinction. In 108 Tests he took 421 wickets -- the most by any South African -- at an average of 23,11. It was only in the past two years that the average went up from about 21. He made 3781 runs at an average of 32,31 to cement his role as one of the world's best all-rounders.
He captained the country in 26 Tests, dumped unceremoniously into the job after Hansie Cronje's fall from grace in 2000. In his first series as captain he led SA to victory over Australia.
He was just as unceremoniously dumped as captain after the 2003 World Cup, taking the blame for the debacle against Sri Lanka when SA read the Duckworth Lewis sheet incorrectly.
He has been plagued by media about his lack of pace over the past two years, but he has taken it all with a grace and dignity singularly lacking in players today.
Coming from SA's version of cricket royalty, the great Pollock family, he espoused all the old values of fair play and grace under fire, values obviously taught to him by father Peter and uncle Graeme.
There has not been a better captain to deal with, since the country emerged from isolation, than Pollock. With his wicked sense of humour, he loved to keep the media waiting, but he always gave good value.
The likes of Steyn, Morkel and whoever might rise to the top with them, have huge shoes to fill in the likes of Pollock and his predecessor, Allan Donald.
But there was evidence at Kingsmead over three dramatic days, that the team can go forward without one of their icons.
But Pollock is still going to be sadly missed.
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