Missing Pollock

When Graeme Smith took over South Africa's captaincy from Shaun Pollock in 2003, he was the youngest ever to lead the country at 22 years.
And the attacking opener's first tour as captain was Bangladesh, where cricket was played in searing heat.
The Proteas will escape the scorching summer this time and have already began to love the cooler but drier spring after their first day on field and feel its time to bloom.
"It's lot cooler than the last time I was here when the heat was incredible. It's nice to have a bit of winter," Smith told after the nets yesterday morning at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur.
Not only the weather has changed, the trip without Pollock -- the ace all-rounder who retired following the series against the West Indies -- would never be the same.
"It feels different not having Shaun on tour. We used to have a man, a face on tours. We lost a man with a lot of experience.
"But it's also an opportunity for another young player to find his feet and really hope to step up and take the place of Shaun. You can't replace a man with that experience overnight," he told of his predecessor.
Captaincy, however, sometime is a burden on a batsman, he acknowledges.
"It definitely does add a lot of pressure on the individual, as a captain it does make your job of managing players a lot more difficult. The keys are I like to let the players to find their feet on tour, find their place, to get the best out of them, make sure they are competing at a level that is required. The thing is to make them believe, I think that's the key," Smith commented.
With the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the Indian Cricket League (ICL) inspiring cricketers to retire and rush to the sub-continent, Smith found it difficult to comment on the lure of Indian money.
"It's a difficult question for me to answer. No one really knows a lot about IPL. Obviously none of us involved in ICL, it's a banned league. Scheduling is obviously going to be the key for the IPL. This year we are playing a lot of cricket and have to tour England, India and Australia. So we have got a very tough season. But if it (IPL) is handled properly, structured right, it can certainly be a benefit to the game," he said.
When drawn his attention to Ricky Ponting's comment that cricketers quitting international career and joining the leagues in India is bad for cricket, Smith said: "May be he is right. But at the end of the day a lot of these players were at the end of their careers, probably had retirement on their minds before the IPL came along.
"It doesn't really affect us at the moment as a team. There hasn't been a distraction. Obviously we want to do well for South Africa. This year is probably the biggest opportunity we've all had to have a really successful season. That's where our heads are on.
"Our concentration is on South Africa, winning tours here, India, Australia and England and that's why we want to be successful in the season. It's up to the players what they are going to achieve."
After five years, what were Bangladesh's chances to put on a decent fight against South Africa at home?
"I understand that Bangladesh's under-19 team are pretty strong, obviously guys coming through. But the international team are also pretty young still.
"They need to gain experience. We have seen them struggle abroad and the conditions that don't suit them and I think that's going to be the challenge for them. You keep play on low and slow wickets then you go abroad you will struggle. But as I said in this condition they are going to be a formidable force."