Pollock lets Windies off the hook
By Paul Martin
He was thrust suddenly into a job apparently made in hell -- taking on the leadership last year of a team shattered by the "Hansie-gate" scandal. But Shaun Pollock has turned out to be a very good and effective captain both on and off the field.
True, he started embarrassingly (some might say with touching loyalty) by declaring the South Africans' first match after the Cronje admissions to be a "tribute to Hansie". But from then on he has been a model of diplomacy and of firm leadership.
Until today, that is. Pollock has allowed the opening Test match against the West Indies in Georgetown, Guyana, to slip away. He, literally, didn't have the balls.
The pressure Pollock's team had exerted throughout the morning and before-tea sessions evaporated in the final session of Day Four, and the Windies ended up in the strong position of being 258 runs ahead with six second-innings wickets in hand.
South Africa had been exercising a vice-like grip as the Windies moved at snail's pace in the first two sessions. In contrast to their swashbuckling 50 runs in just 15 overs overnight, the Windies put on just 44 more runs before lunch, for the loss of Wavell Hinds for 14.
It was almost as dire after lunch, until Brian Lara came in. He played freely for his 45 (from 82 balls) before being caught by Pollock off Makaya Ntini. Instead of going into their shells, though, the other Windies batsmen showed increasing urgency.
And here's where Pollock failed to exercise his normally aggressive instinctual leadership qualities. The ball passed its 80 over -- and was almost literally disintegrating. Even when the umpires had it replaced with another equally old piece of stuffed leather, Pollock insisted on continuing to keep it. Nicky Boje kept plugging away at the rough outside the leg stump, but the batsmen, particularly the in-form new captain Carl Hooper, padded away anything remotely dangerous.
It was almost pathetic to see Alan Donald toiling away with the very old ball. He got in one reverse-swinging yorker, but could extract no bounce or venom. True, he had captured a wicket with a superb yorker with the old ball in the first innings, when he also could have held a new red cherry in his hand. But history does not always repeat itself. Surely, it would have been a different prospect with a shiny new ball for two of the world's top bowlers, plus all-rounders Kallis and Klusener.
Anyway, the Windies batsmen relished the tactual blunder, and the crowd cheered wildly every boundary, of which there were many. Young Sarwan has played particularly well, and his 71 not out from 158 balls fully justifies Hooper's decision to put the youngster one place above him in the batting line-up. The two of them have so far put on 76 runs, most of them in the 25 overs. The South Africans have continued to bowl with the old ball even when the new ball was available to them.
On the last day it now seems there can only be two results: either a win for the Windies, or a draw. I reckon it's the latter. There is just an inkling of a chance that the Windies will lose their enxt six wickets very cheaply, and South Africa may have, say, sixty-five overs to get 300 runs. But even that I think is a bridge too far.
Scoreboard
West Indies (1st innings): 304.
South Africa (1st Innings): 332.
West Indies (2nd innings):
WW Hinds c Boucher b Donald 14
CH Gayle c Boucher b Boje 44
MN Samuels b Kallis 51
BC Lara c Pollock b Ntini 45
Sarwan not out 71
CL Hooper not out 31
Extras (B9, LB8, W1, NB7) 25
Bonus Runs 5
Total (for 4 wickets, 105 overs) 286
To Bat: RD Jacobs, NAM McLean, M Dillon, D Ramnarine, CA Walsh.
Fall of wickets: 1-51 (Hinds, 17.2 ov), 2-78 (Gayle, 36.5 ov),
3-147 (Lara, 63.1 ov), 4-210 (Samuels, 85.3 ov).
| Bowling |
Ovs |
Mdns |
Runs |
Wkts |
| Donald |
20 |
8 |
51 |
1 |
| Pollock |
17 |
4 |
51 |
0 (6nb) |
| Kallis |
15 |
2 |
36 |
1 (1nb) |
| Boje |
31 |
10 |
80 |
1 |
| Ntini |
14 |
5 |
20 |
1 (1w) |
| Klusener |
8 |
1 |
27 |
0 |
Mail Cricket Editor
