Pollock (left) - sacked as Proteas captain (Getty Images)

By Richard Gibson, PA Sport, Durban

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Shaun Pollock has insisted he would never have resigned as South Africa captain.

Pollock, 29, was sacked on Saturday, 12 days after the country's World Cup exit here at his home ground Kingsmead, when the Duckworth-Lewis tie in the day-nighter with Sri Lanka ended South African participation.

Ultimately, he pinned his downfall on the legacy of the Hansie Cronje affair, however, refusing to blame that early departure from a tournament his team were expected to contest fiercely.

Pollock insisted a lack of total backing from the United Cricket Board of South Africa had been more crucial.

Following the late Cronje's notorious match-fixing allegations, which cost him the leadership of his country and a ban from the sport, ultimate power was no longer the luxury of the captain, according to Pollock, who inherited the role in the middle of 2000.

However, he said he would never have quit the job despite his grievances.

"I loved the responsibility of it and that is why I would never have resigned," said Pollock.

"I didn't want to be a person who was perceived to have left South African cricket in the lurch or quit when the going got tough."

Pollock's three-year reign never truly emerged from the dark shadows of predecessor Cronje and the former Warwickshire all-rounder expressed his hope that new leader Graeme Smith would be given greater backing.

"Ever since the Hansie issue there has been an effort to make sure that the captain wasn't given too much power and the responsibility was shared," said Pollock.

"With Hansie's demise there were a lot of comments that he was given too much free reign.

"I think the cricket board were very conscious of making sure that didn't happen again.

"I am not saying that my hands were tied but what happened in the Hansie era was that whatever Hansie wanted he got in respect to the team, the way forward and how to approach things.

"For me, it wasn't the ideal situation of taking over the captaincy.

"They analysed the reasons why things had transpired with Hansie and a lot of credit was given to the fact that he had a lot of power.

"Moving forward they didn't want to give that sort of power and that same backing and support. I am not saying I didn't get support but it probably wasn't as strong as is ideal for a captain of his country.

"At the end of the day as captain you want the full support to do what you want.

"The style I bring to the party is not what they want. As a captain you want to live and die by your decisions and what has been done to me as captain is not really what you want."

Pollock's authority was also put into question by team-mates Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes and Herschelle Gibbs dedicating their World Cup campaigns to their former captain Cronje.

However, he argued: "It was not the ideal situation going into a World Cup campaign but you can understand their feelings, they felt strongly about their relationship with Hansie.

"I think I had the players' respect, I had a good relationship with each and every one of the team members, everyone was motivated and there was no rift in our camp."

Despite the poor showing in the World Cup, South Africa won 57 of their 89 completed one-day matches under Pollock and also rose to the number one spot in the Test rankings on the back of a 14 wins and seven draws in 26 matches.

Nevertheless, the nephew of South African great Graeme Pollock has never been seen as a natural leader, particularly by convenor of selectors Omar Henry.

"Over my tenure there has been some criticism over how I have handled certain issues and my management skills have been mentioned and that is something of which I have been very conscious," he said.

"I worked as hard as possible on that and I have been a captain that has liked to lead from the front.

"I feel that that is not the kind of leadership style they want in South African cricket moving forward."

New incumbent Smith, the 22-year-old Western Province opener played the first of his eight Test matches only a year ago last weekend and is yet to play a Test outside South Africa.

Intriguingly, a little over a month ago Smith was not considered to be worthy of a place in the 15-man squad for this competition and only drafted in after Jonty Rhodes broke a finger.

But Pollock, who like West Indian Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, of India, and Alec Stewart, will play on after relinquishing the captaincy role, has called for unity behind the leader.

"It is not about personnel, there will be many captains after the next, many players that play for their country, it is not about the individuals, it is about South African cricket and we have got to get it where it should be and that, I believe, is right at the top," said the former skipper.

"I always said Graeme would be the next captain, he has a maturity beyond his age.

"We have to make sure we support him and having the experience of being captain I feel I have a hell of a lot to offer."

Smith's first assignments will be a tri-nations tournament in Sharjah followed by tours to Bangladesh and England this summer.