Mike Haysman was one of many hapless Australian fielders who watched Pollock flip the clock again in nice model.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Graeme Pollock was 41 when South Africa XI took on Australia XI within the first Unofficial Test at Durban in 1985. That was the time when the one worldwide cricket South Africa received was from the insurgent excursions, because the nation had been banned by the ICC due to its apartheid coverage.
When Pollock performed and missed a number of occasions, wicketkeeper Steve Rixon sledged him. But the good South African batter went on to make 108.
Mike Haysman was one of many hapless Australian fielders who watched Pollock flip the clock again in nice model. “From the moment Rixon started to sledge him, every single ball hit the middle of Pollock’s bat,” Haysman advised The Hindu right here on Tuesday. “And he was caught by a Kim Hughes screaming catch in the covers. A lot of the bowlers didn’t speak to Rixon ever again.”
Haysman is a type of gifted cricketers who by no means might make it to the worldwide degree. He had been a prolific scorer within the extraordinarily Sheffield Shield (First Class) competitors in Australia after making 100 on debut in opposition to Queensland.
When a chance got here, he wasn’t conscious. “I was on standby for an Ashes tour, but I wasn’t officially told, and in the meantime I had been approached for the rebel tour,” mentioned Haysman, a well-liked voice on cricket now. “I hadn’t already signed up, but I wasn’t sure what the selectors thought about me. So, it was a bit of a tricky situation all around and of a communication issue, which tends to happen in cricket.”
He feels South Africa wanted such excursions to maintain the worldwide sport alive within the nation at the moment. “South Africa had some fabulous players even then, like Clive Rice, who was the captain, Garth Le Raux and Pollock,” he says. “I also had a good time with the bat; I was the leading scorer on the 1986-87 tour (with 738 runs at an average of 61.50).
He now has strong association with South Africa, where he has been a regular commentator for several years. “I love this country; it is beautiful but it has problems, as does every country,” he says. “I love animals, and Africa is the best continent for wildlife.”
About the India-South Africa Test sequence, he needs it was longer than simply two matches. “I would have loved five matches,” mentioned Haysman, who enjoys watching Ok.L. Rahul bat. “Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are the other Indian cricketers that I like a lot.”
