from supercricket.co.za March 12 2002
While national captain Shaun Pollock resigns himself to a battle for fitness ahead of the seven match series against Ricky Ponting's one-day specialists another battle is raging around him - the fight to secure his services during the winter months.
United Cricket Board chief executive Gerald Majola is not alone in having
second thoughts about Pollock playing county cricket for Warwickshire between
May and September, particularly following the side strain which reminded
everyone that the workaholic skipper is human, after all.
The trouble is, Pollock has already signed a contract with Bob Woolmer's county
and the Englishmen are determined to keep him to it.
Apart from Pollock's injury, the logistical situation has changed since Majola
agreed to release him. A triangular one-day tournament in Morocco in August has
been agreed to by the UCB and that is followed by the ICC mini World Cup in Sri
Lanka in September.
Effectively that would rule Pollock out of the final six weeks of the English
season when Warwickshire had signed him on the understanding that it would be
just two weeks.
Majola has admitted that negotiations are at a delicate stage - although
delicacy is the last thing on the Warwickshire committee men's' minds. As far as
they are concerned, they have the signature of one of the world's best all
rounders and that is that.
One thing that remains certain is that Pollock is not significantly motivated by
the contract fee of 100,000 pounds (1.6 million rand.) Unlike almost any other
cricketer in South Africa, the South African captain made his decision based on
a cricketing rationale.
He will do whatever the UCB want him to do, but it is now up to them to extract
him from a contract to which he committed himself with the Board's blessing.