Stuart Pollock
John Stuart Pollock was an Irish first-class cricketer and cricket administrator.Life and cricket
Born at Belfast in June 1920, Pollock was the son of the cricketer William Pollock. He was educated at Campbell College.
Pollock made his debut in first-class cricket in 1939, when Ireland played Scotland at Dublin.
He resumed playing first-class cricket after World War II, touring England in 1947 when he played in both first-class matches on the tour against Derbyshire and Yorkshire. He featured in first-class cricket until 1958, playing a total of 23 matches; twenty of these came for Ireland, with Pollock also playing two matches for the Marylebone Cricket Club and one for the Free Foresters. Recognised as one of the best batsman in Ireland during this period, he scored 1,036 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 25.26, and a high score of 129, which was his only first-class century. He played his club cricket for the North of Ireland Cricket Club, who he played for into the 1960s, eventually retiring from playing due to a bad back.
He remained active in Irish cricket following his retirement. He was President of the Irish Cricket Union in 1980, a role in which he was described as "much travelled, popular and successful." Outside of cricket, Pollock was a competent golfer and squash player, and worked as director in the family timber business.
Pollock died at Downpatrick in February 2017, and was at the time of his death the last surviving Irish cricketer to have played first-class cricket before the war.
