NEWS
Follow UsWest Indies have struggled big time in the shortest format of the game but their white-ball captain Kieron Pollard wants the public to be slightly more patient and give them more time to re-build. The Men in Maroon recently lost to Ireland and Pakistan and could only manage to win one of their five league-stage encounters in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
"We need to improve the way we play, because our batting has definitely been a problem for us. The good thing is that we have some new faces in the group, guys looking to make a name for themselves in our international scene. It's like we are starting from scratch, so we need to do the basics right. Play the situation of the game and analyse, assess, and make the right decisions, depending on what the team requires at that point in time," said Pollard ahead of the first T20I against England, which will be played in Barbados on Saturday (January 22).
The Caribbean Premier League has a draft system for recruiting players and all the franchises just want to win, which Pollard thinks is not healthy for the young players coming up the ranks. We don't have a T20 feeder system, where guys can get different match practice at different times. The CPL is results-oriented, with private owners who come in and want to win. Some guys might get to play, some guys might not, but we have to keep a bunch of guys together and give them experience. Chopping and changing, and dropping and bringing in, is not going to change our results, because these guys are actually learning on the job.
"When you look at Indian cricket, when you look at the English system (the T20 Blast in addition to the Hundred), you look at the Big Bash, these have alternative T20 systems that some of the guys can come through. How many guys do we have that were made through the CPL only? When it was the Caribbean T20, there were a lot of guys coming through the system. I don't know how we're going to do it in the future, but we need to find a way."
Pollard himself is 34 and didn’t have a great World Cup, scoring 90 runs in five innings. However, Pollard said he wants to groom young players and once again make West Indies a fearsome unit in white-ball cricket. "Before the World Cup, there was no noise about the captaincy, but because of the campaign that transpired, it is necessary. In each and every tournament that you have, whether it's the World Cup or the Ashes, you expect casualties.
"If I'm not the right person to lead, then so be it, but cricket in the West Indies is not about Kieron Pollard. It's about the holistic approach of getting better, and grooming the youngsters, to put them in positions where they can feel comfortable in international cricket.
"I've never played cricket based on myself. I've always been based on the team and what is required at that point in time. I'm not just going to promote myself because I want to get a fifty, and I want to please the public, but if it is required, you can bet your bottom dollar, I'm going to put on that boxing glove and I am going to go there and fight for the team.
"We have a rich bunch of talented young individuals. Nicholas (Pooran) has been promoted to No. 3 so that he can take more responsibility as well. We have a couple of new guys into the set-up. Each and every one of us has to play our role, and that's the only way that the vehicle can move forward."