Kieron Pollard: A case of what if?

Luke Dunning assesses whether the WICB/CWI wasted Kieron Pollard's talent

Apr 04, 2021

Whisper it quietly but in spite of Kieron Pollard’s late career resurgence in the maroon has he been tragically misused by the West Indies?

Fans of the Trinidad & Tobago Red Steel will remember when Pollard burst onto the world scene in 2009 smashing 54 from 18 balls to take down New South Wales in the abandoned Champions League. Pollard walked in at the 13th over needing 70 to win at ten an over, he finished the game in the 18th over – taking 27 runs from a Moises Henriques over in the process.

His performances put his name on the map for the likes of Mumbai Indians, a team with whom he approaches his 11th season under contract with the franchise.

But as Pollard approaches his 34th birthday – the key question is how long can he keep going? Undoubtedly he will be aiming to play in the back to back World T20 cups but if that was to be the end of his West Indian career or indeed the 2023 ODI World Cup, would it be fair to say that Pollard was under utilised in the maroon?

Should Pollard have represented the West Indies in the Test Match Arena is the oft repeated question.

In a red ball career that seems to have spanned from 2007-2015, Pollard played just 27 first class games averaging 37.71 with the bat. Indeed former England captain, David Gower told SportsTiger’s show, Off-The-Field in September 2020 that Pollard knew ‘he cannot play Test Cricket’ after acknowledging he is one of the best T20 players of all time.

One may acknowledge, due to age, that it is too late for Pollard to play Test cricket but the fact remains that his first class average is much better than many of the other batsmen who have represented the West Indies in the last decade.

Of course much of Pollard’s career runs parallel with board/player disputes in West Indian cricket, especially between the 2012 and 2016 World T20 successes. If you mirror that with the rise of T20 cricket as a whole – it may well have been impossible for Pollard to play Test cricket but the hierarchy involved with Cricket West Indies must surely feel an ounce of regret that Pollard never represented the West Indies in the Test match arena.

Yet what West Indies have missed by ignoring Pollard in Test cricket is more than his obvious ability. Firstly there is his overall leadership skills; he has played 28 games as captain of a West Indies side that equates to 15% of the international games he has played. He has shown time and again his leadership credentials in franchise cricket and it is obvious he has leadership qualities that have only just begun to be properly utilised by the West Indies.

Kraigg Braithwaite is of course the new captain of the test side and has enjoyed some initial success. Kieron Pollard continues to lead the white ball teams successfully yet how much would the Test side have progressed with Pollard leading the team whilst batting 5 or 6 in the line-up.

Another thing that is sorely overlooked is Pollard’s records against the so called ‘big teams’. He averages 36.64 from 20 ODI innings against Australia whilst averaging 41.75 when he plays there. He also has two hundreds against them with his other hundred coming against India at their home ground.

Maybe this is a result of all the franchise cricket he has played in the IPL and the BBL but also it shows a man who stands up when he needs to be counted which alludes back to his strong leadership qualities.

It is tough to say that someone who has played 113 ODIs and 76 T20Is has been underused by his country, but when all is said and done in Kieron Pollard’s career – there will always be a feeling that he could have done a lot more within West Indian Cricket.

Caribbean Cricket News

Discussion about this post