from supercricket.co.za April 03 2002
It would be unjust for the South African cricket bosses to start
tampering with the salaries of the players after they had such a poor season
against Australia. That is the view expressed by, Pollock who believes that he
is now a better captain than ever, when he was asked to comment on the plan of
the United Cricket Board of South Africa to deduct money from players who are
not performing as expected.
Apart from being unjust, Pollock also feels that the scheme would be hard to
implement. "Everybody's contracts are based on incentives.
"Our contracts stipulate that we will get extra money if we perform well.
It is completely understandable that you will not get the incentive money if you
lose because you don't deserve it. However you cannot tamper with people's
salaries just because they had a bad game."
Pollock is one of the Category A players who receive around R30 000 a month with
another R20 000 every Test and R10 000 for one-day matches.
Added to that tidy sum are the gigantic bonuses the team share among themselves
for winning series. The better the opposition, the bigger the bonus and on that
basis the Australians already cost the South Africans around R2 million.
"I don't know what the UCBSA has in mind. Something that would make sense
is that you could lose money if you show dissent or something like that,"
Pollock said
The 28-year old captain on Tuesday once again had to field many a question about
his captaincy. "I have had two very good years so far. We are playing a
very strong team at the moment and they (the UCBSA) must decide whether the
defeats are a result of my captaincy.
"I'm full of confidence regarding who and what I am. I'm probably a better
captain now than ever before. Misfortune teaches you a lot about yourself and
about captaincy and after this series I am able to say I'm a better captain than
ever before."
The new scare tactic employed by the UCBSA has just become the umpteenth new
topic of discussion in the dressing room. According to Pollock there are
nevertheless still some of the players who try to lift the spirits of the team
with their wit and it helps. "The vibe is still all right, but it would
have been better if we were winning," the captain said.