Graeme

Pollock

International Cricket Council

BCCI boss N Srinivasan

Abandoned by South Africa,looks for help from India in his battle for survivalPollock’s SOS to IndiaGraeme, one of the greatest ever to grace the game of cricket and easily its most gifted left-hander, is living a life of penury in Johannesburg, unable to pay his medical bills and facing the ignominy of being thrown out of his only house.The South African legend – whose Test career was curtailed because of the country’s isolation in the Apartheid era, but gave enough evidence of his genius in the 23 games he played – has made massive losses in his brokerage business.With a recent stroke restricting his movements, Pollock is now unable to take up any work to repay nearly $ 250,000 he has borrowed from banks and is just days away from losing his mortgaged home.The last hope of the man, who was voted South Africa’s player of the 20th Century in 1999, is the cash rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and theheaded by. Bitter that his own country has forgotten its hero, Pollock’s agent Basil O’ Hagan hopes that the Indian board, fans, corporates and IPL teams will pull the master batsman out of this life of indignity.The past two years – when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and colon cancer – have been a nightmare for Pollock, 70. And with the stroke that followed, he has been rendered home-bound. “Financially, Graeme is fighting to keep the wolves from his door. It’s really sad to see someone who brought so much joy to cricket, in this position,” O’Hagan states.Pollock himself feels that it is not easy for a retired cricketer to make ends meet in South Africa. “There is not much one can do as an old South African cricketer. Unlike in India, the system here does not support retired players. I have heard that the Indian board disbursedmoney to former cricketers and has set up a system of monthly pension. We’ve no such privileges here,” he said.O’Hagan said Pollock would not even mind a job with an IPL team – perhaps that of a motivator. “He is good at that and has been doing that for some time. Graeme spends hours watching the IPL. He is very interested in the transformation of the game. He feels there are very real innovations to the game of batting and progress can still be done in this direction.”Graeme, uncle of former South African speedster Shaun Pollock, said while cricketers now make a lot of money, in his time it was different. “I played 27 years in first class cricket. South Africa was isolated from 1971 to 1992 and it was very difficult for any South African cricketer to survive in that period. Everyone had to do jobs and play cricket as a pastime rather than as a career.”Although his playing career predated the ODI and T20 era, the big-hitting Pollock would have thrived in the limited overs format. He held the world record for the highest score in List A cricket of 222 not out for 27 years. He played first-class cricket from the age of 16 in 1960 until retiring in 1987 at the age of 43.Pollock had a huge fan following even as boy because of his precocious talent. Robert Houwing in a 2010 article, refers to this anecdote in the ‘sporting legends’section of the website of Grey High School, where Pollock had represented the 1st XI aged 13:"Graeme used to entertain many a Port Elizabeth enthusiast on a Saturday afternoon for Old Grey. Cars used to park all the way around the field and in many areas two, three or four deep. This prompted Dave Butlion (a prolific striker of the ball, who once hit six sixes in an over in club cricket), who batted at five and often had to go in after Pollock to say: ‘I would walk to the crease with cars hooting to acknowledge another great Pollock innings; as I took guard the engines would start up, and by the time I scored my first run, the ground was once again empty'."Sunil Gavaskar, who has written glowingly about Pollock’s exploits, believes that there will be many in India willing help the ailing master. “He is not only one of the greatest batsmen in the history of the game but also one of the finest gentlemen that you can come across. For all his stupendous achievements, he remains a humble person who hardly talks about himself but is happy to talk about the current generation of players. There must be many who grew up delighted at his batting who must now be in a position to help their hero in his retirement and I do hope they do that and see that their hero lives the rest of his life with dignity and respect,” Gavaskar said.Pollock took part in a cricketers’ protest against apartheid in 1971, when two first class teams walked off the field after only one ball was delivered in the match in Cape Town. The players delivered a memorandum protesting that merit should be the only criteria in selection of South African teams irrespective of colour. The players were severely criticised by the then National Government.However, the players felt very strongly that it was a time for change, for a development programme to be introduced, to aid non-white cricketers, and to ensure all players would be chosen on merit.Isolation of South Africa from international cricket then followed for 22 years. Pollock was 26 and in his prime when South Africa were barred from international cricket due to their government’s Apartheid policies. He had played just 23 Tests. “It’s complicated,” said O’Hagan. “Maybe the administration doesn’t want to be seen supporting someone who played during Apartheid. But Graeme spoke out against it when he needed to.”Pollock recalled an instance when he spoke out against the system. “I was a selector and during a tour of Australia, the team was changed. I decided to speak out while the authorities wanted me to toe their line and say the team was not changed. I spoke out in Channel Nine in Australia and it obviously did not go down well with the authorities. I have not been involved with South African cricket since then,” Pollock said.