Graeme Pollock 144

Graeme Pollock 144 final Test innings at St George's Park SA vs Aussies 1987

[@RG-ja34sep]

Graeme was a complete batting genius, his timing was incredible, his style was elegant and majestic, his power was ferocious, and the ability to play the ball through the gap was unparalleled. He was in his forties during this innings, showing that even well past his prime, he could still pulverise a high class attack. Surely the most gifted left-handed batsman that has ever lived. I remember Richie Benaud said that he would travel to any part of the world at any time just to watch Graeme bat.

[@Bernie8330]

Among left handers alongside Brian Lara, Kumar Sanggakara and Gary Sobers.

[@himanshupathak1310]

According to Sir Don Bradman, Graeme Pollock was the best left-handed batsman that he ever saw in the game of Cricket,together with Garfield Sobers.

[@roybean7166]

@Himanshu Pathak I think Bradman might have said Pollock was a greater batsman than him, bradman ? Seem to remember something like that. Roy b, CapeTown, south Africa 🇿🇦

[@henry-nr5np]

Hee,s the best ever hee,s a icon

[@jessesands4099]

Graeme Pollock South African Cricket legeng probably one of the greatest batsman South has ever produced along with Barry Richards!😀🏏🇿🇦🦁🐘🦏🦒

[@christiandefazio272]

Rodney Hogg, Terry Alderman and Rod McCurdy were good quick bowlers, he made them look like medium pace trundlers at 45 years old. Amazing batsmen. These rebel tour videos really are incredible, look at how big the crowd is.

[@chalkandcheese1868]

Rodney Hogg was way over the hill but still formidable, Alderman was only good in England and McCurdy was a mug. Impressive showing by an all time great but in reality a 3rd rate bowling attack.

[@davidporter2770]

I am 75, from PE, and was there to watch the Genius Graeme Pollock. The best batsman ever.

[@carterpaul2688]

Me too David , I’m 78 now in east London

[@drhemantjoshi5585]

I am 62 and from Pune India.I know the great South Africa side of 1969 which defeated Bill Lawry's Australian 4:0.The team includes Barry Richards,Graeme Pollock,Peter Pollock, Eddie Barlow,Mike Procter, Irvine,Lindsay,Ali Bachar.

[@roybean7166]

@Dr Hemant Joshi and what a team it was !! Unfortunately apartheid policies spoiled everything, some of the true greats who never had a chance to show what they were worth. Roy b Cape town, south africa 🇿🇦

[@johnnyhammer]

It wasn't South Africa's policies that ruined things, but the ridiculous Gleneagles. Take a look at SA then and compare it to now. Which form of government was objectively better for ALL races?

[@henry-nr5np]

Hee is the best ever

[@Pablo22578]

Unbelievable player. He racked up 100's for fun. In the 80's, he was kind of like a modern day ABD, every news article was about another 100's he'd notched up over the weekend. LEGEND !

[@henry-nr5np]

Didn't use his feet much just hit everything away,,, u will never never get a batsman like Robert Graeme Pollock,,,❤❤❤❤

[@HHM706]

My Dad played with Graeme Pollock, when he played club cricket for Sutton in 1969. Top bloke apparently.

[@amitjain11000]

did he play till 1987? superb batsman along with Barry Richards. both tall and elegant, always waiting for the ball to arrive with a very still head.

[@roybean7166]

He played till 1987. He was 43, and still playing fantastic cricket. My view is he could have gone on a bit longer. He did no fitness training, thought it a waste of time. With some fitness work he might have been able to play longer. He was that good. Roy b, CapeTown south africa 🇿🇦

[@ISWORTHAPA-n2x]

He played first class till 1987. This was his final first class innings.

[@philipmonolagi269]

Pollock showed he still had the fire even back in the 80s

[@Guphil]

Was there at Bradman one day match at scg.Couldn’t see the scoreboard.Took me one perfectly timed cover drive to realise I was totally unexpectedly privileged to be watching Pollock.

[@richardsharpe2966]

A great privilege to see him play twice a great player

[@vswarup]

Hal mark of his batting is the ease with which he plays.Smooth as rolls royace

[@Bernie8330]

It looks like to me he had a fantastic eye. Like Clive Lloyd and Ian Botham of a similar era, he was a big man with immense physical strength and so made use of a heavy bat. People wrote of Pollock 'His feet never seemed to move yet they always seemed to be in precisely the right position when he made contact with the ball. Great example of that is at 4:12. Bear in mind also that Pollock was going on 43 when he played this innings, and most of Australia's best bowlers of the time were on this rebel tour rather than staying loyal to the official establishment back home.

[@oleggorky906]

@@Bernie8330 yeah. Footwork is good and desirable but it's not the be all and end all. Look at Sehwag at his best. He scored two triple hundreds And a 291 at Test level, yet he seemed as flat footed as a penguin! 😝😝

[@MrDunkiep]

@@oleggorky906 Trescothic was similar. They say it's all about where your hands are in relation to the ball, not necessarily your feet.

[@oleggorky906]

@@MrDunkiep that and hand to eye coordination. It also helps if you can read the length early. Footwork is good, don’t get me wrong , but it’s not the be all and end all

[@MrDunkiep]

@@oleggorky906 I played club cricket in the North of England in a pitch that stayed low. To survive you HAD to move your feet and get forward or dinner or later you'd get a shooter. Don't think Pollock had that problem where her played!!

[@rsmani41crichapp]

Thanks for the swansong match of former South African great Graeme Pollock, who showed how the ball could be stroked with ease of both front & back foot. Super player from South Africa in the apartheid era. He could have set a lot of records if SA figured in the main test fold at that time.

[@popideb3355]

It is very unfortunate that after this video, we have not yet got any other greame pollock jem from that rebel tour. For example Greame Pollock's 68 in cape town test.

[@Steveaustin007]

My favourite all time player. RGPollock

[@robinwilson730]

It was a real privilege to watch him both live and on TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He scored at a terrific pace and seemed to punish medium-pacers in particular. He made batting look easy which is the true mark of a great player. A great pity he could not pit himself against those top West Indies fast bowlers of the 70s and 80s. What a contest that would have been! Even so, added to the cricket commentaries of Charles Fortune, this was a plum period in SA domestic cricket.

[@zahidshakeel8900]

1.45 master of cricket Look at this finest ever just touching the ball The Timing Finest ever bowler back drive

[@lonestar6709]

What an incredible innings. Pollock's Test career being over at age 26, is the most lamentable story in all Cricket. 61 avg, with his best years to come. Terrible. And this shows his genius. 40 years old, and smashing Australia all over the park. All-time XI. No doubt about it.

[@Bernie8330]

If you count the two world xi series against in england and then australia immediately after his last official test, as well the rebel tours to south africa in the first half of the 1980s, his record was a touch over 4000 runs in 47 tests, with 14 tons at an average of just over 57. Double his tests, runs, and tons and you more or less have Garry Sobers stats. Bear in mind with Pollock, his test debut until the end of the second of those aforementioned world xi series was aged 19 - 28. Rebel tours did not begin until he was 36 and his last such game was when he was 43. So even with those stats, he pretty much played no real or virtual international cricket during what may well have been his greatest peak years aged 29-35. He was also the first player to make a double century in a domestic one dayer, in 1974 at age 30. My all time test xi is: Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar, Don Bradman, Graeme Pollock, Viv Richards, Gary Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Malcom Marshall, Wasim Akram, Shane Warne and Dale Steyn with Imran Khan as 12th man. Obviously a lot of great players are unlucky to miss out for example with Sachin Tendulkar opening Len Hutton, Gordon Greenidge and Matthew Hayden are just a few to be unlucky. Sobers is first picked in a 3 way race for left handed spots in the middle order because he also has his bowling and then Pollock only just edges out Brian Lara by a minuscule whisker. Ponting, Greg Chappell, and Walter Hammond are just beaten by Richards and so on. The only current player to even be in the running are Steve Smith and Virat Kohli.

[@Billie0708]

@@Bernie8330 You can't dismiss Brian Lara !! (34) 100s , (9) 200s , (1) 300s , (1) 400s , (1) 500s . World Record Holder of Highest individual score and highest Test Run getter despite of he debut after Sachin. But Lara in 232 innings reached 11953 runs where Sachin broke in his 247 innings and two years later after Lara retired, that shows how great Lara was despite of playing in a Weaker West Indian Team. And Lara has 3 Great Test innings are there in Wisden's 100 Greatest Test innings of All Time List where Sachin has none. And Lara is the 3rd batsman behind Sir Don Bradman and George Headley who has scored most percentage of runs of Team's total. Brian Lara has scored 20% of his team runs, a feat surpassed only by Don Bradman (23%) and George Headley (21%). And Lara has scored 688 runs (42% of team output, a record for a series of three or more Tests, and the second highest aggregate runs in history for a three Test series) in the 2001-02 tour of Sri Lanka. Also Lara holds the Record of most runs in a Single over (28) vs South Africa against Peterson bowling. And Lara was Great ODI Batsman too, Lara was Batsman of the 1990s Decade with winning 5 Consecutive ODI Batsman of the year award. From 1993 to 1997. And Lara is also Chosen in EspnCricinfo and Wisden 2nd All Time Test Xi List ahead of Graeme Pollock. And Lara also Chosen in ESPNCricinfo Past 25 Years Greatest ODI Xi List too. And on record, proved himself and his versatility in all formats of the game. And Lara also fared better against McGrath with averaging 41 against McGrath despite of McGrath got him out most number times where Sachin has only 22 average against McGrath. And Waqar Younis , Muttiah Muralidharan and Allan Donald called Lara as the toughest opponent and in ODI Lara Also has better average against Pollock and Donald than Sachin. and Lara was Destructive as well as Majestic too, and someone you can pay to watch. and probably the Greatest Batsman of Spin Bowling and Medium pace bowling of Last 50 Years. And on an impact index survey Lara is among the Top 5 Most Impactful batsman in Test Cricket History where Sachin wasn't in the Top 10 List. And also on Ananth Narayanan Statistics Analysis on EspnCricinfo Website, Lara is the Second Best Batsman after Don Bradman in terms of playing with a Faster Scoring Rate. So, Lara should be ahead of Pollock in All Time Xi List due to his Longetivity and Consistency for over 15 Years of Test Cricket with proving in all around the world conditions. And Brian Lara was the Most Naturally Gifted Batsman of his Generation and was Great All Round Batsman and a StrokeMaker, as well as Very effective Batsman in Crisis too. And Lara believes in My Way playing approach and Dominate any bowling attack in a tough Circumstances in a pressure situations. And as a Batsman + as a performer. Overall as a Batsman Lara is better Batsman than Sachin Tendulkar and Graeme Pollock.

[@delr2320]

@@Billie0708 please can you post here the link of the Anantha Naranayan article on Cricinfo that you mentioned mate? He's always written superb articles,but I don't know where this article is? Cheers :)

[@OrbvsTomarvm]

@@delr2320 lol he bombed you out.

[@Bernie8330]

@@Billie0708 I didn't dismiss Brian Lara but rather chose Pollock over him by a the whisker of a cat.

[@dilipdeb6483]

Extraordinary video. Please upload many more cream Pollock great rebel tour innings video.

[@alberttruter6143]

Don Bradman best right handed, and Graeme Pollock best left handed batsman of all time.

[@oval291]

Oh Sobers or Lara don’t exist in your time…..Pollock best South African left handed of all time. Leave it that

[@ghossain2070]

wow. sublime.

[@henry-nr5np]

Best batsman wow to watch him best ever❤❤

[@henry-nr5np]

I will say itt over the best batsman the world had ,,,, ❤❤

[@mikevv]

GENIUS

[@delr2320]

Brilliant upload of a legend- cheers Mike :)

[@Stimpy49]

Possibly, 1 of the 2 great "What if's" of cricket. The other...Barry Richards.

[@Bernie8330]

There are more great what ifs than that: Jimmy Cook, Clive Rice, Greame Pollock's brother Peter, Mike Proctor, their captain Ali Bacher, and of course Dennis Lindsay - an Adam Gilchrist before his time in terms of a wicket keeper also being a great batsman. There was also a fellow in the late 1970s and 1980s called Kevin McKenzie who was supposed to have been awesome too.

[@briansukhu4392]

ranan desilva mike Proctor

[@seanpreston5186]

Eddie Barlow was another. Great captain.

[@SK-jp3hq]

Kevin McKenzie father of Neil McKenzie????

[@bee7549]

@@SK-jp3hq yes

[@krishnaj.5822]

Brilliant - this is a rare gem - many thanks !!

[@JamesLord-gb1qu]

Left hand right hand combos important for batting and bowling

[@mikevv]

Surely the BEST EVER...

[@roybean7166]

Definitely. Could not have been a better bat than Pollock. He was a genius.

[@TheBundleofkent]

Nah…..Bradman so far ahead he can’t see him. He was a great player but Viv Richards, Brian Lara, Tendulkar, Sobers, just to name 4 did it in test cricket for a lot longer. Would have loved to have seen him against the pace of WSC. Pollock would have had to do it in India, WI, Pakistan to have confirmed his greatness and that was never going to happen due to the atrocity that was apartheid. Thanks for posting though I love seeing him bat

[@roybean7166]

@@TheBundleofkent do you realise Pollock was 44 yrs old when he played this innings. ? So can you then imagine what he was like in his 20s ! Here he was actually past his prime, so just imagine what a genius he was .

[@sentimentalbloke185]

@@TheBundleofkent This is old, broken down Pollock. Imagine him in his prime, every bit as good as Sobers, Tendulkar, lara etc. anyone who played against him had no doubt that he was a genius player.

[@Kimpotter-yt4ly]

There is no doubt he was one of the greatest left hand batsmen ever, alongside Gary Sobers and more recently Brian Lara. Such a shame apartheid cut short what would have been a stellar test career.

[@chrisnel5505]

hit the ball aerial against the wall, old Park Drive tennis club side, it rebounded twenty meters onto field of play..

[@ISWORTHAPA-n2x]

This was his final first-class innings. Not the Test innings.

[@muralinarasimhan3863]

Brilliance personified

[@raywall9788]

Magnificent. !!

[@CA-ee1et]

0:07 Oh aye, what's this? The Speedo Cup?

[@biswadipdasgupta4204]

Maestro.

[@vratysanu]

This match was played in 1987 that means Pollock was 47 years old at that time way past his prime..World class players in late 30s or early 40s lose their touch and can't play like this.Pollock was of rare breed producing innings of this quality way past his prime. In his prime he would have dismantled any quality of bowling attack.

[@mtnstrand2819]

Always thought he was in early 40's at that stage. Playing like that at 47 is simply unbelievable. Thanks for the info.

[@roybean7166]

Pollock was 43 at the time. Unfortunately he did no fitness training, did not believe in it, as he said. If he did fitness training, maybe lost a couple of kg he had put on, he could have gone on for a couple more yrs, maybe played a bit of test cricket in early nineties. He was a genius with a bat. Roy b, Cape Town south africa 🇿🇦

[@ramankamble1503]

His last test was in 1970

[@roybean7166]

@Raman Kamble yes, his last official test, before SA was booted out of world cricket, was in 1970. In 80s he played in the " rebel " tests. Till he was 43. At that age he was still playing great cricket, better than any youngster. Roy b, CapeTown south africa 🇿🇦

[@stewartmcmanus3991]

This would have been World Series Cricket.

[@henry-nr5np]

Here had 3 days time to play one delivery so here s the bosss

[@UddalokBhattacharya]

Graeme Pollock 144 final Test innings at St George's Park SA vs Aussies 1987 --- ridiculous! South Africa did not play tests in 1987.

[@mikevv]

Rebel Tours...

[@robertvere2263]

Good-looking ball by Hoggie to get him.

[@karlditz8631]

This guy would have made a shit load of test runs

[@Bernie8330]

If you take into account the world xi series against England and Australia right before they went into isolation and then the 16 tests against touring rebel sides from England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and Australia, Pollock's record reads 47 virtual tests (only 5 less than Bradman's legitimate tests) a tick over 4000 runs, average of 57 point something with 14 tons. This is virtually precisely half of Gary Sobers's 93 tests 8032 runs average 57.6 and 26 tons. All of Pollock's official tests were between ages 19-26, the world xi series 27-28 and then the rebel series, a total of 16 tests in which he averaged 65, aged 38-44. So he missed completely the years 29-37. Also bear in mind that the two tours by rebel Australian teams contained, bar Geoff Lawson, the best bowlers from Australia at that time, namely Rodney Hogg, Terry Alderman and Carl Rackemann (McDermott, Hughes and the injury prone Bruce Reid all debuted around this time and were green rookies whose best performances would come later in the era after the rebel tours). The teams from the west indies, although a virtual west indian 2nd XI, in that era their test rejects would have walked into any other side and had two very special bowlers in Colin Croft and Sylvester Clarke and England's rebel teams also contained bowlers of the quality of Graham Dilley and John Emburey who were genuinely accomplished test cricketers both before and after the tour. So he wasn't facing pedestrian club standard attacks for the most part in those series at an age where almost all of even the best best batsmen are already retired,

[@Bernie8330]

"This guy would have made a shit load of test runs" ... And also a shit load of runs in one day cricket at a very high strike rate (in terms of runs per 100 balls faced).

[@henry-nr5np]

Best batsman wow best ever

[@henry-nr5np]

The best batsman with Barry Richards

[@mrheartbane]

God Hohns delivered some dross

[@Bernie8330]

Yep, but unfortunately he was prolly the best spinner in Australia at the time. He actually later performed solidly in the 4-0 victorious Ashes series in England in 1989 with the actual official Australian team.

[@oleggorky906]

But he got a bit better. Never a genius but solid and knowledgeable. Didn't he become an Australian selector? I'm almost certain that he did.

[@roybean7166]

That's because Pollock took him apart. He did not know where to bowl, happened in 1965 vs England, Trent bridge, I think it was. Bowlers became confused bowling to greatness.

[@sentimentalbloke185]

Hohns was really a batting all-rounder at the time.

[@WilliamSmith-mx6ze]

"Final Test innings"??

[@henryoosthui3495]

Best of all times

[@krishnendudey6607]

Missing his batting genius since 1970 was a great loss for international cricket. He could have had better statistics than Sunil Gavaskar and Alan Border had he played his full quota

[@saurabhsutar7217]

His test strike rate is 112

[@Gulshan6000]

Sr of his test career is 112 on this time😮😮

[@henry-nr5np]

He play with these bowlers

[@zoyaa2610]

Just he is batting at the age of over 40 plus world cricket miss bunch of his era sa team

[@henry-nr5np]

They looked like school boys Pollock is the best

[@henryoosthui3495]

Only Barry Richards can do itt with him he is the best ever

[@kenfragnicholl-sh6so]

The best leftie ever

[@henry-nr5np]

At that age here let them looked like school boys❤❤❤

[@oleggorky906]

What year is this? Don't suppose you would happen to know, or would you?

[@roybean7166]

Bilbo Baggins, 1987, Pollock was 43 yrs old. He retired soon after. But he was so good, he probably could have gone on another couple of yrs.

[@oleggorky906]

@@roybean7166 thanks. And yes, Pollock was a god with a bat. I've seen his stats and heard from his peers.

[@roybean7166]

@@oleggorky906 You had to have seen him. He was a genius. Also he did no fitness training. That's the reason he was a bit overweight the last couple of yrs, as you can see in the vid. I think if he did fitness training and slimmed down a bit, he could have gone on a couple of yrs longer. Past his 43 yrs retirement, closer to 50.

[@oleggorky906]

@@roybean7166 I've seen a bit of footage since though it's not the same. I wish I had seen him. Barry Richards as well. Especially when he belted a Lillee led Western Australian attack for 356 runs from 381 balls, including 325 runs in the one day! That would be some hacuna matata! 😀😀🏏🏏

[@roybean7166]

@@oleggorky906 yes, I've just seen the Barry Richards vid. Saw him play many times. Amazing attacking opening bat. Similar to the west Indies batsmen of that era. Just you enjoy the vid of Barry hitting 325, in a day. Barry lost interest in the game, felt he had been hard done by , only playing one test series. Pollock was different, he said he had a couple of test series, as he started in 1963. He also said he had no hard feelings losing out on a long test career, as he felt the boycott against south Africa was justified. He said that was all that would rid SA of apartheid, that was his view. Always said he felt sorry for Barry Richards, though, being such a great opening bat and not having a decent test career.

[@henry-nr5np]

Hee,s the greatest ever in world

[@ianwright7133]

In the best of all time team ..... HOBBS, RICHARDS B, BRADMAN, RICHARDS V, POLLOCK G, SOBERS KNOTT AKRAM WARNE MARSHALL ANDERSON but it could also be HOBBS RICHARDS B BRADMAN RICHARDS V LARA SOBERS BOTHAM GILCHRIST WARNE ANDERSON AMBROSE

[@ianwright7133]

@Vicki Kennedy Barnes maybe not Trumper. Barnes these days would bowl on covered wickets. Did superbly but his results would not be the same

[@stephenmcloughlin7718]

Mike Procter could easily get into those sides also.

[@ianwright7133]

@@stephenmcloughlin7718 yes indeed.

[@JamesLord-gb1qu]

My best ever x1 Hobbs pollock Bradman v Richards tendulkar sobers gilchrist Warne Marshall sf barnes akram

[@hanajinks1044]

@@ianwright7133 Tendulkar B Richards Bradman Pollock Viv Sobers Knott Akram Lillee Marshall MacGill Sachin smacked Ken around ...a lot. MacGill was a far better bowler and ended up being marginalized from the side due to Ken's jealousy.

[@braamneethling7]

The best

[@altafnazir]

how SA played against Aus ? World series?

[@Beazle00]

It was an unofficial rebel tour by an “ Australian “ team captained by Kim Hughes.

[@henry-nr5np]

Pollock is to calm

[@Ajay.369v]

Graeme Pollock ,easily could have scored 10000 test runs ,if he had played 100 tests.

[@vijaykumarshukla6451]

After Gary Sobers,,, Graham Pollock was the best southpaw batsman

[@zahidshakeel8900]

WHAT A PLAYER HE WAS HIGH QUALITY AGGRESSIVE BRILLIANT ON BLACKFOOT COVER DRIVE AND CUTS BEAUTIFULLY YOU WERE BEAUTY.... POLLOCK 🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰🇵🇰

[@roybean7166]

He was the greatest, saw him many times.

[@zahidshakeel8900]

@@roybean7166 YOU REALLY SAW POLLOCK'S TO PLAY IN THE GROUND,WOW 1.45 FINEST SHOT I SEEN EVER

[@roybean7166]

@@zahidshakeel8900 He was south Africa's greatest sporting hero, I think. He was idolized. When he came out to play his last game, the spectators stood up and cheered non-stop for a very long time. Unfortunately he was out for one or two runs !!!

[@zahidshakeel8900]

@@roybean7166 I agree with you Pollock Barry Richards Legendary cricketers I love cricket Cricket is my Life Thanks A Lot

[@roybean7166]

​@Zahid Shakeel Enjoy the cricket ! Roy b, Cape Town south africa 🇿🇦

[@henry-nr5np]

Hee play fool with the bowlers,, really he do

[@henry-nr5np]

Pollock would avg 90 easy and more

[@peeps977]

Toe alles soos in alles nog in orde was

[@chetanpalwan6353]

👍

[@henry-nr5np]

Hee is the best batsman not Bradman

[@michaellilienfeld4137]

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