As an active international cricketer, Brian McMillan tried his hand at teaching Afrikaans and science in school, and discovered he was good at it.
Then, disillusioned with the “politics” in South African cricket administration, McMillan decided to stay away from the game after his retirement as a player, and chose to join his family business instead.
There too, he tasted success, as the all-rounder par excellence of his time evolved into an epitome of versatility outside of cricket. In between, there was also the small matter of completing an MBA course and working with companies like Canon.
For seven years since South Africa’s return to international cricket, McMillan was a big part of the team: a mean third seamer, who was quicker than expected, a very useful batter, and a fielder with bucket-like hands that pouched anything coming his way in the slip cordon.
He was the glue that held the Proteas team before the phenomenon called Jacques Kallis happened to South African cricket.
However, over the years McMillan has stayed away from the ground and South African cricket establishment, concentrating on his family business while keeping a tab on cricketing developments on TV.
“Fortunately, I have my family business and we are into finance, telecom, printers and production machines. When I was playing, I had worked for companies like cannon,” the 60- year-old told PTI in an exclusive interview, sitting in his sprawling office in Aztec Park area.
“I did my MBA after cricket and before that taught Afrikaans and science in school to supplement my income while I was playing.”
With his all-round skills, he would have been sought-after in IPL but he simply said “it is what it is.”
“Before me Clive Rice, Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Mike Proctor could have made money,” he said.
But why doesn’t he go to the ground or associate himself with CSA?
“I don’t go to the ground as it is too political for me and I have my viewpoints on that. I really love the game and I have my view points on that,” McMillan said.
“I follow the IPL quite closely and there are a lot of youngsters coming through. Fortunately, for India, they have got an extremely good side and it was really surprising that they didn’t win the World Cup,” he said.
McMillan did have his issues with the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement and his contrarian view points didn’t earn him friends.
“I certainly don’t believe in their selection policies. BLM I don’t believe in. It’s a Marxist thing. I believe all lives matter, how people interpreted it in this country... They didn’t have any knowledge to what BLM stood for,” he said.