Was Graeme Pollock in the Sachin Tendulkar class and the best Proteas batsmen of all?

[Harsh Thakor]

A curtailed test career like Barry Richards prevented us from making an accurate analysis of his Greame Pollock's place amongst the batting greats.However I have no doubt about his place amongst the best batsmen of all time.Some critiques claim that he did not face the best bowlers and was not exposed to all types of opposition. I would like to remind them that he scored 122 at Sydney and 175 at Adelaide and 125 out of a total of 160 of the very best runs at Trent Bridge in 1965,in addition to his classic 274 versus South Africa at Durban and 209 against Australia at Port Elizabeth.The 125 in England was arguably the best innings ever played in England after the war.Pollock's blended the skill of a surgeon with the creativity of a poet and the consistency of machine.In 70 mins after lunch he scored 90 out of 102 runs ,scoring 21 boundaries in all.His 274 was also one of the most majestic displays of batting in a mammoth score.When scoring 209 he batted with a strained thigh which showed his guts.Above all Sir Don Bradman classed Pollock as the best left handed batsmen he ever saw. Pollock could demolish the best of pace and spin attacks with the ferocity of bomber plane combined with the innovation of a musical composer.He could bissect the most impregnable of fields with the perfection of a sculptor .In full flow made the field look like pawns on a chessboard holding the bat like a wand.In terms of pure prowess,he was inches ahead of Gary Sobers.Sobers may have had better technique or power but Pollock was the more creative.Above all he had a brilliant match-winning average of around 84,the best average by any batsmen of his era in matches won.Almost all his best knocks won games for South Africa.His test batting average of 60-97 was only 2nd to Bradman . True he had a limited test career and never played the Carribean pace battery like Gavaskar of faced Lillee and Thomson like Viv Richards.However always remember how he devoured a strong Australian attack averaging around 100 runs in a home series in 1969-70.More than mere figures it was the manner in which Pollock destroyed opponents .He could manouvre the cricket ball like moving a motorboat.Barry Richards was technically sounder but Pollock had a marginally more of that magical touch of genius.I would have dearly loved to see him take on the West Indian pace battery at it's prime and I almost have no doubt that he would have overshadowed any contemporary batting great in combating their bowling attack.In the modern era had he played he may have overshadowed every batsmen as a match-winner with his natural attacking agression.A Graeme Pollock playing for the Proteas today would have possibly made them clearly the test would champions.Bar Viv Richards I can't name a batsmen who could turn the complexion of a game more. Where would Pollock rank amongst the all-time great batsmen?I place him behind Bradman,Hobbs,Tendulkar,Sobers,Viv Richards,Lara,Hammond,Gavaskar ,Hutton and Headley and marginally edging Greg Chappell,Ponting and Dravid.If it came to mere flair he may well have been 2nd to Bradman.Amonst left-handers he would vie for top spot with Sobers and Lara but their superior statistical records would rank them marginally higher.In terms of prowess he was arguably the best of all left -handers.I also rank Pollock as the best South African batsmen of all time,marginally ahead of Barry Richards and Jaqcues Kallis.Pollock proved himself more in International cricket than Barry and though Kallis had far more staggering aggregate never matched Pollock's strokemaking ability or ability to turn a game.Not for nothing have Greg Chappell,Mike Procter and Barry Richards chosen Pollock,instead of Tendulkar in their all-time xi.Geoff Armstrong puts Pollock in his 1st alltime xi in his book on selection of the ten bets cricket xi's ,ahead of even Viv Richards.For pure match-winnning attacking agression Greame would edge Sachin in my opinion.Pollock also played some classical knock sin Currie Cup Cricket and in County one day Cricket.In 1n the late 1980's scored a double hundred in a Gillete cup 60 over game.,traumatizing the bowling attack.He scored 2 centuries against unofficial West Indian teams in 1983 and 1984,proving his capability in countering the onslaught of great pace bowling.To mere statisticians I would remind them that cricket is about art.Gary Sobers feels Pollock was not tested enough but I do not agree with Sobers on many questions in assesing all-time greats.(remember how he denied Peter May and Greg Chappell all-time great status)If he had a full career I may have backed Pollock to be just behind Bradman and Hobbs and the best of all left-handers.Nevertheless he is still to me the best Proteas batsmen of all(by a whisker from Barry Richards) and the 4th best no 4 batsmen of all behind Lara ,Tendulkar and Hammond. I am reproducing an article below from cricinfo on the South African batting maestro Greame Pollock Graeme Pollock is unwell. Another former South African cricketer, Lee Irvine - a man of no mean achievement himself - clarifies the situation. "Though Graeme is cheerful enough, the ailments include a tumour in the colon, which was removed last year, the early stages of Parkinson's, and minor problems with speech that are quickly improving after a recent stroke." Apparently the great man is not flush with funds either, so good people, such as Irvine and friends, are coming together to help. Pollock was a phenomenal batsman. Honestly, unless you saw him it is hard to imagine just how phenomenal. Jacques Kallis is South Africa's finest-ever cricketer but Pollock, along with Barry Richards many would say, is that land's greatest batsman. Hartley Alleyne, the Barbadian, bowled to him during the rebel matches in 1982-83 and was routinely pumped either side of helpless fielders to the boundary. It was like the action was on a loop - Alleyne runs in, bowls on a good length at off stump and Pollock leans forward to drive. The ball scorches across the turf. Next ball, Alleyne runs in, bowls short of a length and Pollock leans forward and.... Next ball Alleyne runs in and bowls short and Pollock rocks back and... on and on it goes. Part in shock and part in amazement, Alleyne got into the habit of stopping once or twice on the way back to his mark before turning to stare at his opponent and then shake his head as if in awe of the talent and power that was punishing him. These matches against the rebel West Indians came in the autumn of a career that began in 1960, when at just 16 years of age he made a hundred for Eastern Province in the highly competitive Currie Cup. Like many of these freak sportsmen Pollock was a boy prodigy but is now a man running out of years. He is 70, so not hopelessly old by any means, and is loved and cared for by a marvellous girl. But life is not what it was. For a time golf was able to cover for, if by no means replace, the thrill of competitive cricket, but even that has become a strain. Let us dwell on the figures for a moment. Graeme played in 23 Tests and scored 2256 runs at 60.97 per innings. Only Donald Bradman has bettered that. Bradman himself was a fan, so much so that at the Sydney Cricket Ground, when Pollock became the youngest South African to score a Test match hundred - he was still 19 years old and on his first tour - Bradman said to him "Next time you decide to play like that, send me a telegram." Some of his performances are the stuff of South African folklore. The 125 at Trent Bridge in 1965 was made in two hours and 25 minutes, while only 35 were scored at the other end. A year and a bit later in Cape Town he came in at 12 for 2 and made 209 against Australia despite a thigh injury that restricted him to mainly back-foot play - this from perhaps the finest front-foot driver of the ball that the game has seen. The most revered innings, however, remains the 274 in Durban in 1969-70, when Australia were beaten in all four Tests. Those who saw that day's play - most of South Africa, you tend to find when you visit! - regard the batting by Pollock and Richards as incomparable, though Mohammad Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar had a crack at it at Newlands in 1997 with a blitzkrieg of their own against Allan Donald and company. He is a tall man, six feet and two inches at a guess, with immense upper-body strength and surprisingly skinny legs. He was more into boundaries than ones and twos, and famously told a batting partner, Mandy Yachad, who was eagerly pushing the deep-set fieldsmen, to "cut the athletics and concentrate on giving me the strike"! Though his stance was orthodox in the early years, it became wider and wider as time passed, and he found a method of transferring his weight forward and back without ever seeming to play through anything other than the line of the ball. There are tales of a 60-over Gillette Cup match in which he scored 222. And a marvellous anecdote about Alleyne hitting him on the head in a one-day game in Port Elizabeth and delighting that the devil had to leave the field for stitches. Then Hartley corpses as the story continues with the devil's return to the wicket an hour or so later, after Sylvester Clarke had taken a wicket with the first ball of an over. Wearing a helmet, but without a grill, Pollock smashed all remaining five balls for four or six. Alleyne loves that story and over a cold Banks beer or a rum and coke back in Barbados he loves to talk "Pollock talk" and laugh about Pollock's absurd level of control and domination. "That man, the man, Pollock man, that man Pollock, he could bat," he says, totally star-struck. And he adds that only "Viv" could intimidate bowlers in such a way. Probably Sir Garfield Sobers too. Pollock was more into boundaries than ones and twos, and famously told a batting partner, Mandy Yachad, who was eagerly pushing the deep-set fieldsmen, to "cut the athletics and concentrate on giving me the strike"! Anyway, these memories are relevant when building a picture of the man, for there is another issue that South African cricket might address sooner rather than later. Pollock was one of three truly superb cricketers denied a full Test match career because of the isolation imposed on South Africa during the ghastly years of a government that pursued an apartheid policy. The others are Richards, who played four tests, and the thrilling allrounder Mike Procter, who played seven. There were many other wonderful cricketers during the 1970s and '80s - it truly was a golden age - and they too were denied the fulfilment of their gifts. Talk about being born at the wrong time. The shame is that these three cricketers, along with every other white player to represent South Africa prior to the ban in 1970, have been discarded by the current administrators. Their memory has been erased from honours boards and photographic displays. The numbers on the caps and shirts worn by the present team begin in 1992, when a fully representative XI first took the field after the ban was lifted. Thus Kepler Wessels is the "first" man to play for South Africa because he captained the side on its return to Test match cricket against West Indies in Barbados in 1992. This is mean-sprited and discriminatory in itself. Pollock once took this up with a senior figure within Cricket South Africa and was told to get lost. What would he have had Pollock do? Turn down the chance to play cricket for his country? The great history of South African sport is built upon the legacy left by each generation. Pretending something did not happen is fruitless. It happened. There can be no defence for the appalling politics of the time, nor can there be an excuse for the racism that existed in cricket at all levels. Arguing the place of privileged white cricketers when millions of black people were so degraded will touch many nerves and outrage many hearts. But was not Nelson Mandela's greatest wish the wish of forgiveness? "We can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite." Perhaps now, with Hashim Amla appointed as South Africa's first non-white captain, Cricket South Africa could reconsider their trenchant position. Amla himself, such a sensitive and intelligent man, may in time wish to lead the way. He is in charge of a fine team and players of all backgrounds are a part of that. Clearly Amla is comfortable in his own skin, as the administrators who have worked so hard for modern South Africa should now be. Acknowledging the great sportsmen of the past is the warmest hand of reconciliation they could offer. That way Pollock, wherever this present journey may take him, will be properly recognised for the life he has given to the game and the talent that once adorned it. The last word comes again from Mr Mandela: "It always seems impossible until it is done." Mark Nicholas, the former Hampshire captain, presents the cricket on Channel 9 in Australia and Channel 5 in the UK RSS Feeds: Mark Nicholas © ESPN Sports Media Ltd. Below I ahve reproduced statistics of Greame Pollock's career,compiled by S.Rajesh of cricinfo .I am greatly impressed by his performances in matches won and figures on the bouncy South African tracks. Graeme Pollock's Test career Period Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Before 1965 8 524 40.30 2/ 1 1965 onwards 15 1732 72.16 5/ 10 Career 23 2256 60.97 7/ 11 His career average of 60.97 is second only to Bradman's (among those with at least 2000 Test runs), and a shade ahead of George Headley. Those three, along with Herbert Sutcliffe, are the only ones with a Test average of more than 60. Best Test averages (Qual: 2000 runs) Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Don Bradman 52 6996 99.94 29/ 13 Graeme Pollock 23 2256 60.97 7/ 11 George Headley 22 2190 60.83 10/ 5 Herbert Sutcliffe 54 4555 60.73 16/ 23 Ken Barrington 82 6806 58.67 20/ 35 Everton Weekes 48 4455 58.61 15/ 19 Pollock's overall first-class career was impressive enough, but he was one of the few players who finished with a higher Test average. In 262 first-class matches he averaged 54.67, which was more than six runs fewer than his Test average. Among South Africans who've played at least 20 Tests, only three players have a higher difference. South Africans wih highest difference between Test and first-class averages (Qual: 20 Tests) Batsman Tests Average FC matches FC average Difference Colin Bland 21 49.09 131 37.95 11.14 Bob Catterall 24 37.92 124 29.99 7.93 Eddie Barlow 30 45.74 283 39.16 6.58 Graeme Pollock 23 60.97 262 54.67 6.30 Test cricket has seen several great No.4 batsmen, and Pollock easily fits in among them. In the 37 innings he batted in that position, Pollock scored 2065 runs at an average that was slightly higher than his career average. All seven of his hundreds came at that slot, as did eight out of 11 fifties. Among batsmen who've scored more than 2000 runs at this position, only West Indies' Everton Weekes has a higher average. In fact, South Africa have a history of some pretty good No.4s both before and after Pollock: Dudley Nourse averaged exactly 50 from 53 innings, while Cullinan continued that tradition when South Africa returned to the international fold. The latest to keep the flag flying high is Jacques Kallis, who is one of only three batsmen to average more than 60 at this position (with a cut-off of 2000 runs). Best averages at No.4 (Qual: 2000 runs) Batsman Innings Runs Average 100s/ 50s Everton Weekes 57 3372 63.62 11/ 17 Graeme Pollock 37 2065 62.57 7/ 8 Jacques Kallis 130 6943 61.99 25/ 31 Mahela Jayawardene 133 7287 59.72 24/ 24 Mohammad Yousuf 60 3373 59.17 11/ 13 Ken Barrington 44 2367 59.17 7/ 12 Greg Chappell 86 4316 59.12 15/ 19 Peter May 49 2383 58.12 7/ 12 Norman O'Neill 41 2010 57.42 5/ 10 Sachin Tendulkar 220 11,239 57.34 41/ 45 Pollock was part of a strong South African team - they lost only three of the 23 Tests he played, and won nine. In those nine games, Pollock had ten fifty-plus scores, which shows he had a pretty significant role to play in those victories. His highest Test score of 274 came in a win as well, in what turned out to be his final series, against Australia. Among those who've scored at least 750 runs in wins, Pollock's average of 84.14 is next only to those of Bradman and George Headley. Unfortunately for Pollock, he played only two more Tests - both of which South Africa won - before South Africa were banned from playing international matches. Best averages in Test wins (Qual: 750 runs) Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Don Bradman 30 4813 130.08 23/ 4 George Headley 5 766 95.75 4/ 1 Graeme Pollock 9 1178 84.14 4/ 6 Clyde Walcott 12 1113 79.50 3/ 4 Mike Denness 8 783 78.30 4/ 1 Inzamam-ul-Haq 49 4690 78.16 17/ 20 Pollock was at his best in home conditions: in the 14 Tests he played in South Africa, he averaged almost 69, scoring four hundreds and nine fifties in 26 innings. In 15 away innings, though, his average dropped to marginally less than 50, which is still very good by most standards. His average in South Africa remains the highest among those who've scored at least 1500 runs in the country. It's also well clear of the second-placed Nourse, who averaged ten runs fewer. Highest batting averages in South Africa (Qual: 1500 runs) Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s Graeme Pollock 14 1513 68.77 4/ 9 Dudley Nourse 20 1881 58.78 6/ 8 Jacques Kallis 74 5927 56.44 18/ 31 Herbie Taylor 22 2001 48.80 6/ 11 Bruce Mitchell 20 1647 48.44 3/ 11 Ashwell Prince 33 2001 47.64 7/ 5 Graeme Smith 43 3125 45.95 9/ 14 The lack of matches means Pollock doesn't have the sheer number of runs like most of the other greats have. In all other aspects, though, his career compares favourably with the best there has ever been.

[gazza]

i pick him for my all time XI, between him and sobers for best left hander imo.

[Cricket_Hacker]

Any videos of him?

[BlueBee]

Very broadly written OP :nice: I pick Lara. I didn't see Graeme Pollock bat so.

[Sachin=GOD]

@OP - Another essay competition?

[CSK Fan]

I think we should have a rule on ICF, if the number of threads are greater than 75% of number of a user's posts, he shouldn't be allowed to make new threads. Otherwise we will keep on seeing more hit and runs and promoting one's blogs

[Sachin=GOD]

I think we should have a rule on ICF' date=' if the number of threads are greater than 75% of number of a user's posts, he shouldn't be allowed to make new threads. Otherwise we will keep on seeing more hit and runs and promoting one's blogs[/quote'] For a long time I've been saying that all of Skindia's and Harsh Thakor's threads should be merged but nobody listens.

[moniker]

I'm surprised by the forum's ability to accommodate such a large number of words in a single post. :hatsoff:

[velu]

Harish thakur strikes again :giggle: Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[express bowling]

I don't think it is fair to compare players who have played 20 odd tests with those who have played more than 100. Players who perform for a long time have an added hunger and will to succeed, ability keep interest on the same thing over a long time, ability to stay fit, capacity to iron out flaws in techniques after they have been exposed in international cricket etc. etc. Talent is not the only quality that produces a great player. There have been many players with wonderful first 20 tests ... and then failures only. If he had a full career ....Pollock may have been great or ... may not have been. We will never know.

[gazza]

well all accounts rate him up there with the best, there are going to be some exceptions with RSA players who missed their opportunity in that period and there's going to be exceptions for some players further back in history who didn't get to play more tests because they simply didn't play that much. don bradman played 52, sachin tendulkar played 200, does that mean we can't compare the 2 because tendulkar played 4 times as many tests as bradman? pollock also has a terrific FC record and his tests although relatively small in sample size did get played over 6/7 years so it's not like his test career only last 2-3 years it was a decent period of time with stellar results backed up by a stellar FC record and terrific accounts from those that did see him. of course it's a tight race to rank the top batsmen so picking lara or sobers or whoever over pollock is fair enough and i'm not saying we should discount the longevity of those players compared to pollock but i think when comparing players from different era's some other factors have to come into consideration.

[jf1gp_1]

Lara, Sanga are wonderful batsman both would feature in top 3 batsman each country has produced. Sobers never saw him bat but give his international record there is something to back that he was a legend of the game; pollock no one has seen him bat except few SA that too against domestic bowlers and based on their word you should put him on the same list as sobers and lara

[Muloghonto]

Best leftie has to be either Lara or Sobers. Never saw Sobers but Lara is easily better than any other batsman in the last 30 years, except for Sachin and maybe Viv. Sanga is nowhere near Lara as a batsman- in tests or ODIs.