By Fakir Hassen,IANS
Durban : Former South African captain Shaun Pollock will honour his commitments with the Indian Professional League (IPL) Twenty20 League despite his retirement from international cricket.
Pollock said he has also had offers from English county sides, but has not yet made any decision about this. He also refused to comment on speculation that he would take up coaching positions.
Pollock had replaced the disgraced and late captain Hansie Cronje in the wake of the 2000 match-fixing debacle that plunged world cricket into crisis.
Ironically, Pollock announced his retirement Friday at the same venue, the Kingsmead Stadium here, where he was dismissed several years ago as captain by the then South African cricket board after refusing to step down, with Graeme Smith replacing him.
But Pollock saw this as a positive move. “I couldn’t think of a better venue to finish off my career than at Kingsmead, or a better finish to my ODI career than the bullring at the Wanderers (in Johannesburg).”
After sitting out the last few Tests, including the first two against the visiting West Indies, Pollock is playing in the decider at Kingsmead, with the home side well on the way to victory on Saturday. He will also play against the Windies in the ODI series, including a game at the Wanderers.
But Pollock asked that the five-game ODI series day series against the Windies not be referred to as the “Polly Farewell series”.
Pollock said although he had made his decision about retirement right at the start of the current season, he had decided to hold on with the announcement after he had been left out of the tests against New Zealand because he did not want selectors to have him in a Test “for sentimental reasons or as a last hurrah”.
“I’ve always believed that you pick your best players or combinations for each test; unfortunately for me the team’s policy of choosing the quickest bowlers did not allow me to play a part,” Pollock said.
Cricket South Africa chief executive Gerald Majola, who was with Pollock at the announcement, described Pollock as “the most professional player” who had served his country well for 12 years.
Pollock is currently playing in his 108th Test, with a national record of 420 Test wickets at an average of 23.05.
Majola said Pollock’s unselfishness was attested to by the fact that he was retiring though he only needed 219 runs to add to his current tally of 3,781 to become the first player after Kapil Dev to notch up 4,000 runs and 400 wickets in test cricket.