Shaun Pollock confident about success under Ottis Gibson

Among the numerous unsolved mysteries lies another mystery which is related to the game of cricket. Despite having great teams that have always boasted of some of the best players in the world, South Africa always choked in the big ICC events, thereby receiving the humiliating tag of ‘chokers’. Coaching personnel changes, captaincy changes- nothing has really worked for them.

But with the ICC World Cup 2019 less than a couple of years away, former South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock is optimistic about the newly appointed head coach, Ottis Gibson. The West Indian’s first assignment will be the home series against the Bangladeshi side, after which the Proteas will play two tough series’ against India and Australia. However, Pollock feels that the main focus should be on winning the World Cup.

“Obviously Russell did a great job, but now you have Ottis, who has had two stints with the England side. He was the West Indies coach as well, so he got a good feeling working with different teams. He’s not coming in cold and has a nice series to start. Bangladesh might be looked upon as the ideal team and then after that, he’s got the two big tours of India and Australia. He’ll have to work quickly, settle things down and try to assert his way of doing things in conjunction with (captain) Faf (du Plessis),” said the 44-year old, as quoted by IOL.

“Ottis’s big focus will obviously be the World Cup. That’s not too long away,” Pollock stressed. “He would’ve also listened to the England team talks… where they felt the South African team were good or lacking. So he should have an idea on how to improve those weaknesses and even those strengths. But having AB back it strengthens his batting line-up significantly. I’m sure Ottis will be happy about that,” he further added.

Not interested in coaching role at the moment

Many of Pollock’s teammates are doing a great job in the field of coaching. Jacques Kallis has done a good job with the IPL side Kolkata Knight Riders and will be coaching T2o Global League team Cape Town Knight Riders. Graeme Smith has been appointed as the coach of Benoni Zalmi, while Lance Klusener will coach the Pretoria Mavericks.

But Pollock is not interested in coaching for the time being. On being asked about it, he said, “I had a few approaches, but I’m not involved right now. I am interested to see how it goes. The best thing is that all the South African players are going to be there. I am also sure it’s going to be competitive (among the coaches). There has already been lots of banter going around and I’m sure a few ‘strategy sessions’ will be held on the golf course. They are all helluva competitive guys and will be wanting to make sure their team wins.”