With his talent and tenacity Brian McMillan is an all- rounder who will be around for a good whil e yet
CRICKET: Luke Alfred
WHAT do Brian McMillan and Orson Welles have in common? They both do public relations work for Nashua. In McMillan’s case he works for Nashua in Cape Town, the result of his move to the Western Cape several seasons ago.
Big Mac has the following to say about what was then a controversial move from the Transvaal: “Well I can tell you now it definitely wasn’t for the money. You must be quite clear on that. I just felt that I needed a change. I wasn’t happy with certain things in the Transvaal, I don’t think that I can say more than that, otherwise I’ll be pointing fingers at certain people. Let’s just say that I wasn’t happy with the contract and that type of thing.”
The defensiveness of McMillan’s answer is in contrast to the impression of the man that emerges during our interview. He comes across as tremendously loyal (he turned down several lucrative contracts from English counties for the 1995 season so he could remain with Nashua), a team-man who is able to be either single minded or selfless as the occasion requires.
He’s also remarkably protestant about the provincial grind, saying that he got so much out of the game at provincial level that he believes he should put something back, adding that the domestic game is a fine place to keep a running tab on one’s form.
There are other sides to McMillan’s character, such as pride and sensitivity. He found his name in the news recently when he took exception to Trevor Chesterfield of the Pretoria News calling him fat. The one-off Test against Pakistan started shortly afterwards, and after McMillan had scored his debut Test century, he refused Chesterfield entry to the end of play press conference.
“The situation was that I was left out of the South African (one-day) side for whatever reason. Which I don’t think has got anything to do with anybody else,” says McMillan. “The fact that the next day you pick up the paper and a reporter from the Northern Transvaal, I think you know him, Trevor Chesterfield, writes, “Fat Mac dropped for fiery Jack”, and makes reference to me being overweight without any stats. At the end of the day he denies that he wrote that, and his sub-editor actually did the headings.”
Explaining the circumstances, McMillan explains: “I had a press conference the other day when I got a hundred against Pakistan and he (Chesterfield) came in and I made it known that he wasn’t welcome … There are a lot of other reporters around — I can name them — that are decent reporters and who don’t write garbage like that just to make a story.”
What of the Test century for which he had struggled for so long? “Obviously it was a landmark. I’ve been waiting for it for a couple of years. I’ve come close several times. If things had worked out I suppose I would’ve had three or four under the belt now. But I suppose once you’ve got the first one it should be easier than the rest of the hundreds.”
A good indication of the vintage of McMillan’s innings against Pakistan was the quality of his hooking. In England last year he occasionally hooked without full control, top-edges flying beyond mid-on’s reach or falling agonisingly between mid-on and mid-wicket. Against Aqib Javed and Wasim Akram though he hooked with purpose and power, cover-drove with authority and flicked with grace through the leg side. He could have been out lbw before scoring but it was going to be his day, his 113 easily being as good an innings as Salim Malik’s contemptuous 99 or Inzamam-Ul-Haq’s watchful
A week or two later he was back on the same ground for a Castle Cup encounter against the old enemy. I asked him if he sensed that he was in the midst of something special playing around the Koenigs, Ackermanns and Kallises. “Well I don’t want to shout my mouth off, but I think that Province have got enormous talent in their youth. I think that it’s very exciting,” he says, adding the names Aubrey Martyn (still recovering from a stress fracture of the lower back) and Dean Payne to the list.
“I think these youngsters could make it big, could get into the national side even.”
Whether it has something to do with playing alongside these younger players or not, McMillan mentioned that he felt stronger the older he grew. Whether taking on a new lease of life or not, one of the world’s premier all-rounders is going to be adding shape and stability to the national side for some time to come.