CENTURION
A fresh row erupted at SuperSport Park on Sunday, overshadowing a thunderouscentury from Shaun Pollock as South Africa carried their first innings to 566for eight on the third day of the five-day match against India.
Pollock hammered out 113 not out off 109 balls in an innings played in muchthe same vein as his 111 off 106 balls against Sri Lanka in a real Test at thesame venue in January. The pity of it all was that for much of his inningsalmost the entire contingent of journalists and commentators was quizzing UnitedCricket Board president Percy Sonn about an interview given by UCB chiefexecutive Gerald Majola to the Press Trust of India on Saturday.
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The controversy had to do with the wording of an answer given by Majola inwhich he seems to say that had the ICC come up with the R40-million which theUCB would have lost had no match been played at Centurion, South Africa mightwell have said tough luck to India.
Speaking in the context of the financial reasons for South Africa's decisionto appoint their own match referee to ensure that some kind of game took place,Majola says: "If the ICC could have said to us, listen, we'll give you theR40-million you'd lose, or whatever you'd lose, I'd have said to the Indians wecan't (play the match)."
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The wildest interpretation of what is basically a restatement of the UCBposition since Thursday (whether you agree with it or not) is that Majola wasdemanding a bribe to toe the ICC line, whether for himself or the UCB theaccusers have not made clear.
Sonn, meanwhile, held an impromptu press conference at which misunderstandingheaped upon incomprehension and which served very little purpose except,perhaps, to emphasise that South Africa's position on the argument which isstill to come about the status of this game is by no means clear.
Pollock has made it clear that neither he nor his team regards as an officialTest match nor should it be designated one in hindsight. The UCB may well taketheir cue from the players' view in which case South African support for India'scase that the match is an official Test cannot be taken for granted.
All the while, Pollock was thumping the Indian bowling around the ground,clubbing nine fours and seven sixes as the touring team wilted on a humid day.The pitch, slow and with uneven bounce on the first day, has flattened out intoa fine batting strip, a point underlined as Makhaya Ntini scored an unbeaten 34in helping Pollock add 121 for the ninth wicket.
In normal circumstances this would have been Pollock's third Test century (bythe same token Jacques Kallis's 110 would have been his 10th Test hundred) andit would have been an excellent day for South Africa. The lead, when rainbrought play to a halt 36 minutes before the scheduled close, was 334, but thehome side are bound to bat on on Monday.
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Pollock and Ntini, for instance, would probably like to have a tilt at the195 scored by Pat Symcox and Mark Boucher against Pakistan in 1997/98 (the Testrecord for the ninth wicket) if for no other reason than to have something tohold over Boucher in dressing room.
Kallis seemed impregnable until he got out, yorked by Anil Kumble, and hisform as South Africa turn their attention to Australia is assuming heroicproportions. The South Africans will have their fingers crossed hoping that ittravels well.
The whole affair, though, has done very little credit to anyone involved asprinciples have been jettisoned and common sense thrown out of the window.Whether it will all lead to the much-feared split in international cricketremains to be seen, but it would be nice to believe that something positivecould emerge from it all – a just, fair and workable disciplinary process, forinstance.
