How good was Graeme Pollock ?

[Chrish]

From what little footage I have seen of a man, he must have been one of the most exciting players to watch ever. He hits the ball like a thunder cannon and ball literally reaches the boundary in milliseconds without any fielder moving. One can fill the power of his heavy bat. Here’s the inning he played at the age of 42!

Just how good was he? How much did we miss out on?

 

[BazBall21]

One of the best ever.

 

[ankitj]

Have always loved whatever footage I have seen of Graeme Pollock. Minimalist footwork, superb timing and attacking strokes. I easily put him in the top tier batters list, in Tendulkar/Lara class. But this is all subjective impressions. For whatever reason I don't have similar impressions of another batter who played similar number of tests for a similar average (George Headley).

Cricket historians and pundits held Pollock in high regard until about the turn of century. Bradman considered him the best left handed batsman of all time along with Sobers. ESPN legends of cricket exercise ranked him at #15. He was named South African cricketer of the century. With time though fans looking at low sample size have pushed him down to a lower tier (at least on CW)

 

[trundler]

Purely objectively speaking, he faced some pop gun attacks. He never faced Trueman and the best Australian pacer he faced was Graham McKenzie. He might have been a beneficiary of the high SR = talented perception bias.

On the other hand, he dominated List A cricket in an unprecedented way in the '70s and was a gun player well into his 40s. He just looks like a guy who has all the time in the world to play his shots. No wasted movements in his game as they say. He was only 26 when his career ended too so it's very likely he'd have maintained his average. He stands out as a quick scorer along with Sobers in a dull era for cricket and I do definitely value that.

I don't know how to rate him as far as ATG rankings go but that's pretty pointless at the end of the day. I like watching him bat and he made the most of his short test career.

 

[Johan]

Absolute Gun , better then Barry Richards for me , def not three south african bats.

 

[Chrish]

Have always loved whatever footage I have seen of Graeme Pollock. Minimalist footwork, superb timing and attacking strokes. I easily put him in the top tier batters list, in Tendulkar/Lara class. But this is all subjective impressions. For whatever reason I don't have similar impressions of another batter who played similar number of tests for a similar average (George Headley).

Cricket historians and pundits held Pollock in high regard until about the turn of century. Bradman considered him the best left handed batsman of all time along with Sobers. ESPN legends of cricket exercise ranked him at #15. He was named South African cricketer of the century. With time though fans looking at low sample size have pushed him down to a lower tier (at least on CW)

Probably your perception has to do with the fact that there is virtually no footage of Headley available online.

 

[Burgey]

Very

 

[Burgey]

From what little footage I have seen of a man, he must have been one of the most exciting players to watch ever. He hits the ball like a thunder cannon and ball literally reaches the boundary in milliseconds without any fielder moving. One can fill the power of his heavy bat. Here’s the inning he played at the age of 42!

Just how good was he? How much did we miss out on?

He has no trigger movement. Like, none at all. Similar to Bradman. Just goes to show the old adage that trigger movements are for mortals is probably true

this is great footage. The other thing I noticed is that for a player of his era he stayed leg side of the ball a lot. Was far more common then to get across to cover off stump but he didn’t seem to do it as much, albeit this is a highlights package.

I read he was once said at some catch up with other past greats like Chappelli and others, and the talk turned to technical aspects of batting, and Pollock’s response was “no, it doesn’t matter. It’s just a see the ball, hit the ball game.” He brought that simplicity to his own game.

Lack of complication + clarity of thought (+ no small measure of innate talent on his part) = effectiveness and results while batting. This clip just shows it so well.

also very disappointing to see the number of blokes in that Aus side who came back to play for the national side again. Should have got life

 

[Burgey]

Ok

 

[Coronis]

Probably your perception has to do with the fact that there is virtually no footage of Headley available online.

True. Headley was also a more defensive batsman in general with a SR in the 40’s similar to blokes like Sutcliffe, Hammond, Hutton etc from that era. Bradman and McCabe were the exceptions striking at ~60. Unlike Pollock as well, not much of Headley’s technique is described iirc and he is not lauded for being an exciting player.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

To be fair every ball reaches the boundary in milliseconds.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

2nd greatest south African cricketer after Mike Procter.

 

[Chrish]

 

[Chrish]

True. Headley was also a more defensive batsman in general with a SR in the 40’s similar to blokes like Sutcliffe, Hammond, Hutton etc from that era.

Didn’t know that about Headley. For some reason, I had an impression that he was an attacking player, especially on bad wickets.

Speaking of SR, does anyone have any source for estimated SR of past players?

 

[ataraxia]

Speaking of SR, does anyone have any source for estimated SR of past players?

The Hot 50: The Fastest-scoring Batsmen of All Time

 

[Chrish]

Graeme Smith’s SR is surely surprising. Didn’t think of him striking close to 60 tbh..

 

[Coronis]

Can we also take a moment to appreciate Gilbert Jessop who would’ve been the GOAT ODI/T20 player if he was born 100 years later.

 

[Burgey]

In all of these clips he’s just so still at the crease. It’s brilliant

 

[honestbharani]

That Pollock Sobers partnership must have been like batting heaven.

 

[Starfighter]

Unlike Pollock as well, not much of Headley’s technique is described iirc and he is not lauded for being an exciting player.

Funnily enough, was just reading Plum Warner's book on cricket between the wars. Not much detail in it, but he describes Headley as being a wristy, leg-side dominant batsman who played almost entirely off the back foot.