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| March 17, 2003 | Monday | Muharram 13, 1424 |
‘My captaincy was hampered by Cronje’s legacy’
DURBAN, March 16: Sacked South Africa captain Shaun Pollock said on Sunday he had not been able to carry out the role properly because of curbs introduced after Hansie Cronje’s fall from grace.
“Since the Hansie issue there has been an effort to ensure the captain isn’t given too much power,” Pollock told reporters in Durban just before he was replaced by Graeme Smith.
“Shared responsibility was the approach they wanted. That hasn’t worked out from my perspective.
“As captain you want full support to be able to do what you want.”
Pollock was sacked on Saturday in the wake of South Africa’s first-round elimination from the World Cup.
He was criticised for lack of leadership and also blamed for his part in miscalculating the number of runs needed for victory in their final rain-affected game against Sri Lanka.
The 22-year-old Smith, not considered good enough for South Africa’s original World Cup squad, was officially named as his replacement at a news conference in Cape Town on Sunday.
Pollock became captain in April, 2000 after Cronje admitted being involved in match-fixing. Cronje was later banned for life. He died in a plane crash last year, aged 32.
Fast bowler Pollock added: “Whatever Hansie wanted he got in terms of teams, the way forward and how to approach things.
“They (the board) were very worried about the fact of what had happened.
“They didn’t want to give that same power, and maybe that same backing and support. I’m not saying I didn’t get backing and support, but it was probably not as strong as is ideal for a captain leading his country.”
South Africa’s United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola, however, denied Pollock’s claim after announcing Smith as the new captain.
“As far as I’m concerned, the UCB has supported Shaun 100 percent...it has supported him 150 percent,” he said.
Pollock said he remained passionate about South African cricket and would back Smith fully.
“Despite not being captain I’m still 100 percent committed to South African cricket and would like to remain a positive influence in the side. I’ve spoken to my successor and wished him well.”
He did not resign, he said, “as I felt that would be the soft option”.
Pollock added: “I think I had the players’ respect. I had a good relationship with each and every one of them.”
But he suggested he had not been helped by the decision of several players, including Jonty Rhodes, Allan Donald and Herschelle Gibbs, to announce they were dedicating the World Cup to Cronje before the tournament began.
“In a way I was a makeshift captain to start off with,” Pollock said.
“But guys are open to opinion and Hansie was a topic of hot debate. There were no rifts in the side, but it was probably not an ideal situation going into a World Cup.”
“But it’s not ideal when your captaincy is up for debate in the papers a lot of the time, and before Omar Henry was made the convenor of selectors he said he wasn’t sure I was the best captain.”—Reuters
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