from The Indian Express November 09 2001
Rather than asking the Free State trainer Adrian Roux what the South African
fast bowlers eat or how they train, the Indian seamers should have taken their
chairs to the best view possible at the Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein and
watched Shaun Pollock bowl.
Pollock may be a very modest man off the field - " I am surprised how the (first) Test finished so early", - but he is a man of multi-roles once he plays some cricket : he bowls fast and accurate, doesn't let anything go past him when in the slips, is a wonderful leader of his side and just look at his batting average in the last 14 Tests : 48.00.
Pollock is a religious man so he knows the virtues of discipline. Even though Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag kept flogging the South African bowlers in the first innings, Pollock was looking at the war and not just the battle. Without an Allan Donald at the other end, Pollock was Gulliver in Lilliput : he didn't panic but played it by the session, kept bowling straight and knew that the Indians will soon start aiming their shotguns at their own feet.
And they did precisely that. Pollock is precise like the Seiko watch he so fondly wears on his strong wrists. Then, from those very wrists Pollock works on his art - bowling from so close to the stumps, Pollock moves it either way without much change in his bowling style : deception at its very best. What further unsettles the batsman is the bounce Pollock generates from the wicket.
He is well above 6 ft 3 inches and with a nice-high arm action he hits the wicket on the seam which can be very awkward if you are facing upto him. Sehwag's dismissal in the second Test at Bloemfontein was something Pollock had been working on since he first watched father Peter and uncle Graeme showcasing their wares to the world.
Sehwag's initial plan was to leave the ball after it came out of Pollock's hand and started to swing away. Then, at the last moment after pitching, the ball came into Sehwag and cramped him.
Sehwag had to drag it on to his stumps. It was divine justice. Pollock rarely bowls a loose delivery ; in the last 14 Tests his wickets have come at a miserly 19.9 runs a scalp, something even the great Donald couldn't achieve.
At Bloemfontein, the difference between Pollock and the rest of the gang (Indians as well as Nantie Hayward, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis) was Pollock's temperament. He knew the wicket was good for strokeplayers but was also aware of the movement in it for the seamers.
So he just bowled line and length. By not giving away too many easy runs Pollock worked on the batsmen to make mistakes. Unlike the Indians who were rusty and wayward. Though Javagal Srinath bowled well on the third morning but at times even he gave away to many loose balls. By bowling well and then giving batsman loose deliveries, Srinath himself took the pressure off the rival batting.
Both Ashish Nehra and Zaheer Khan looked mere club bowlers as compared to Pollock. They couldn't control the movement and most of the times seemed overworked and up because of the pace in the wicket : the quicker they came onto bat, the quicker they disappeared around the outfield.
Indian coach John Wright said the right things after the match. "Our seamers have to bowl consistently. Wickets will come only by putting pressure on the South African batsmen," he said. What he needs to do is to show video tapes of Pollock to his own bowlers.