Modern-day cricket involves making business decisions, feels Shaun Pollock
Shaun Pollock has expressed his disappointment over players choosing county over their country. The ex-Proteas captain also opined about his team’s performance in the ongoing Test series, praising their fightback with the bat and urging the bowling attack to step up as the series goes forward.
The Kolpak deal facilitates players from countries with free trade deals with the European Union to play as domestic players in Europe. Players who choose have been highly criticised and people have gone so far as to call them “greedy”, “money-minded ” and whatnot.
The Kolpak deal has taken its toll on the South African cricket since its introduction. Players in their best form are choosing to leave their country and are travelling to the United Kingdom for “ better opportunities ” and this is what has disturbed the South African great, Shaun Pollock.
“Well you want to have as many players to pick from and you can't fix it (this problem). That is how it is in the modern-day. In the old days, there wasn't much financial gain in playing sport. People just made themselves available playing for the country. Now it is business," Pollock told PTI.
Since 2017, there has been a flurry of Proteas players signing the deal. The list includes some experienced players like David Wiese, Kyle Abbott, Wayne Parnell and Duanne Oliver. These names could have given the South African selectors a plethora of choices to choose from and help improve the team’s overseas performance.
“They have to make business decisions, where they are going to make money, where they are going to get opportunities and you can't fight against it. If they feel they are not going to play for South Africa for a period of time and decide to go elsewhere, it is unfortunate,” the veteran allrounder said.
"It is not ideal because strength comes from depth and when your depth gets taken away it gets more challenging," added the 46-year-old.
Some credit to this emigration of players can be owed to the quota system of Cricket South Africa which demands the selection board to field an average of six coloured players in a season. The retirement of the big names like de Villiers, Amla and Steyn in a short period of time has put the team under extra pressure.
"I think we have just a lot a big players retiring over the last few years. Rebuilding takes time, getting the guys to become big players, when you lose the likes of de Villiers, Amla, Steyn, you can't replace them overnight," opined Pollock.
Talking about the ongoing test match, Pollock said he expected a fightback from his team. South Africa showed gritty resilience against the probing Indian bowling attack through skipper du Plessis, Elgar and de Kock.
"I did expect a fight but how successful they will be I wasn't sure. I did expect it from the most experienced campaigners in Elgar and du Plessis. None of the guys who got out yesterday have been to India before but it is still a big ask to come here and you do learn your lessons.
"When you are faced with a problem for the first time you know you can learn a massive amount, what the bowlers do with the ball and things like that," he said.
The South African bowlers were nowhere close to their best. Let alone taking wickets, none of them except Philander were able to bother the dominant Indian batsmen. A lot was expected from Kagiso Rabada but unfortunately, he was only able to scalp a single wicket in this match. The experienced Pollock who has more than 800 wickets under his belt couldn’t help but hope that the African bowlers will up their tempo and improve as the series continues.
"You have not played Test cricket for six months and you come here and these conditions are flat. They will start to work things out. By the next Test it will get better and by the last game plans will be perfect.
"You have a small window of opportunity (to take wickets) in these conditions. The first eight overs and when the ball is reversing are important," Pollock signed off.
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