Kieron Pollard

[shivfan]

Once again, Kieron Pollard has a dilemma....

Does he earn as much money as he can, playing 20/20 cricket for Somerset? Or does he turn out for Trinidad in the Caribbean 20/20 competition?

The group matches go right up to July 18, with Somerset playing Kent, and the quarter-finals will be on July 26 and 27. It's highly likely that Somerset, who are currently third, will make it to the quarter-finals.

Trinidad's matches are as follows....

Canada - July 22

Leewards - July 24

Jamaica - July 28

It's clear he'll miss the Leewards and Jamaica games, so why bother fly back home for the Canada game alone? Or will he miss the group games and fly back for the semis, which will be played on July 30?

The Trinidad authorities better get this cleared up as soon as possible....

I think it goes without saying that Dwayne Smith will choose to play for Sussex, and Pedro Collins Middlesex, over Barbados.

 

[Noble One]

Surely playing in a much higher standard of Twenty20 competition is to the benefit of Pollard (both financially and with his development).

 

[Prince EWS]

Surely playing in a much higher standard of Twenty20 competition is to the benefit of Pollard (both financially and with his development).

Yeah, indeed. If he had to choose between Somerset 20/20 and First Class cricket it'd be a trickier issue but I don't see the big problem here.

 

[shivfan]

Yes, this is a different situation from skipping the A team tour of England, which Pollard chose to do, and in the process made the decision to be a 20/20 specialist....

But at what stage do you become a 20/20 mercenary, and stopped being a West Indian cricketer? At this rate, Pollard will never play any domestic cricket in the Caribbean. He missed the four-day domestic competition in the spring, now he's likely to miss the domestic 20/20 competition, and at the rate things are going, he's probably going to miss the domestic 50-overs competition too.

In the past, it has always been a criteria for West Indies selection that you had to play a certain number of domestic games in a given season. If Pollard continues at this rate, he will be violating that rule....

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Yes, this is a different situation from skipping the A team tour of England, which Pollard chose to do, and in the process made the decision to be a 20/20 specialist....

I wasn't happy about that decision at all, but I don't necessarily think that was the case. He may have felt (wrongly IMO) that he had a contract to honour. Of course the financial benefits of that contract also would have appealed. Anyway he's impacted on every single match for Somerset to date, so fair play to him for that. All that said, he needs to get his head screwed on right and sort his priorities. In the current WI setup, a Test match spot is up for grabs, even by a T20 specialist.

Also, Pollard missed the 4D campaign because of WI service, IIRC. So that's hardly due to any mercenary action. Frankly, if he can get more than just a T20 contract in the English system, I would go for it. His game would develop infinitely more than by beating bad bowling in the Caribbean.

 

[Shri]

Lol @ T20 and development tbh.

 

[Woodster]

This guy has real potential, and not just in T20 cricket. Very few strike the ball as cleanly as Kieron Pollard, just hope he can implement some common sense. patience, and dedication into the longer formats.

 

[Debris]

This guy has real potential, and not just in T20 cricket. Very few strike the ball as cleanly as Kieron Pollard, just hope he can implement some common sense. patience, and dedication into the longer formats.

There are a thousand players who can strike the ball cleanly. Stuart Clark was a really clean striker of the ball, for instance. I will believe that he has potential when he can show that he can bat for more than 4 overs.

 

[slowfinger]

This guy has real potential, and not just in T20 cricket. Very few strike the ball as cleanly as Kieron Pollard, just hope he can implement some common sense. patience, and dedication into the longer formats.

Personally I don't believe in T20 potential, you need to prove it in 50 overs or more, to really save a game.

 

[Rant0r]

Like most young West Indian cricketers at the moment, he's all about the bling and no substance, surely they don't really need any more cancerous influences around that team

 

[Beamer]

There are a thousand players who can strike the ball cleanly. Stuart Clark was a really clean striker of the ball, for instance. I will believe that he has potential when he can show that he can bat for more than 4 overs.

He averages 37 in FC cricket with a highest score of 174 against a good Barbados attack, which was scored from 280 deliveries. He can and does bat for long periods at FC level. He really should have been selected to play the 4 day matches on the A tour tbh.

Of course it is difficult because he is one of the biggest hitters of the cricket ball the world has ever seen and naturally teams around the world are going to offer him big money for his services.

I believe it is time he played more FC cricket and I will be extremely dissapointed if he doesn't play most of the FC matches in next years domestic tournament.

 

[Woodster]

There are a thousand players who can strike the ball cleanly. Stuart Clark was a really clean striker of the ball, for instance. I will believe that he has potential when he can show that he can bat for more than 4 overs.

I'm presuming you have seen very little of Kieron Pollard, if you have, I don't think you'd be drawing such comparisons.

Of course there are many clean strikers of the ball, and this is one of Pollard's strengths, I'm not saying he's the best prospect going around, but with his natural ability if he can pay more attention to working on his game in the longer formats, he may be a hit.

 

[Woodster]

Personally I don't believe in T20 potential, you need to prove it in 50 overs or more, to really save a game.

I agree that form in T20 means very little and there is far more credence in performing in 50 overs and first-class cricket. This guy has talent, regardless of format, there are few players that can cause such destruction like Pollard can. I agree with all the comments regarding what he hasn't done, he needs to win WI some 50 over games, and improve his first-class form before he can be taken seriously as a cricketer with definite potential in the longer forms of the game.

 

[shivfan]

He averages 37 in FC cricket with a highest score of 174 against a good Barbados attack, which was scored from 280 deliveries. He can and does bat for long periods at FC level. He really should have been selected to play the 4 day matches on the A tour tbh.

Of course it is difficult because he is one of the biggest hitters of the cricket ball the world has ever seen and naturally teams around the world are going to offer him big money for his services.

I believe it is time he played more FC cricket and I will be extremely dissapointed if he doesn't play most of the FC matches in next years domestic tournament.

But when did Pollard last play four-day cricket for Trinidad? That was last year, so I don't blame the WICB for omitting to select him for the four-day matches on the England tour.

I disagree with Mr Mx. While he missed some of the matches for Trinidad, in playing ODI cricket in Australia, he missed the rest of the matches because he was playing Big Bang 20/20 cricket for an Aussie club. Based upon that list of priorities, I don't see how Pollard deserved a pick in the main tour of England with the A team.

Interestingly, I see that Trinidad have picked him for the regional 20/20 competition, and seem sure he'll play their first match on July 22. That seems to indicate that he's unlikely to play for Somerset if they make it to the quarter-finals.

It makes me wonder why he then refused to miss a couple of matches to play one-day cricket for the WI A team, especially when you consider that the tour was in England, and not far from Somerset. It does seem to me that Pollard is giving 20/20 cricket top priority, and seems to be quite happy to be a 20/20 specialist....

 

[Debris]

I'm presuming you have seen very little of Kieron Pollard, if you have, I don't think you'd be drawing such comparisons.

Of course there are many clean strikers of the ball, and this is one of Pollard's strengths, I'm not saying he's the best prospect going around, but with his natural ability if he can pay more attention to working on his game in the longer formats, he may be a hit.

I was exaggerating a bit to make a point. He is, of course, a much better batsman than Stuart Clark but is he good enough to make it at international level? I have my doubts, even in T20 format. There look to be a lot of flaws in his technique.

 

[Woodster]

I was exaggerating a bit to make a point. He is, of course, a much better batsman than Stuart Clark but is he good enough to make it at international level? I have my doubts, even in T20 format. There look to be a lot of flaws in his technique.

Yes I appreciate that mate. He is far from the finished article, especially in proper cricket. In T20 I think he has all the tools necessary for him to make a very comfortable life out of it, and if he chooses this direction for his career, then financially, who can blame him. If he wants to test himself as a proper cricketer, and not specialise solely in T20, then he needs to have a close look at his priorities and some of the choices he appears to be making.

Should he opt to play more first-class cricket and 50 over cricket he will inevitably have to work much harder at his game, I think the basics are there for him to work with, but it may come down to desire.

 

[Beamer]

It makes me wonder why he then refused to miss a couple of matches to play one-day cricket for the WI A team, especially when you consider that the tour was in England, and not far from Somerset. It does seem to me that Pollard is giving 20/20 cricket top priority, and seems to be quite happy to be a 20/20 specialist....

No Mike it was the manner in which the WICB went about it that meant he couldn't play for the A team. The WICB knew months in advance that KP was playing for Somerset and yet they waited for a week before the A tour began before telling him. That did not go down well with him and his representatives.

The TTCB, on the other hand, let Somerset know about the T20 tournament as soon as it was organised, giving both player and county enough time to organise changes to his contract etc.

 

[Jezroy]

Welllll... If this is to be believed, he very much wants to succeed in the long form, and blames the WICB set up for a lot of the faillings in WI cricket. Sad really.

West Indies news: Kieron Pollard committed to West Indies cause | West Indies Cricket News | Cricinfo.com

 

[shivfan]

Welllll... If this is to be believed, he very much wants to succeed in the long form, and blames the WICB set up for a lot of the faillings in WI cricket. Sad really.

West Indies news: Kieron Pollard committed to West Indies cause | West Indies Cricket News | Cricinfo.com

An interesting read, isn't it? Pollard needs to play some four-day cricket before he can be picked for Tests, and he didn't do any of it for Trinidad this year....

Interesting how he might pick Mumbai over Trinidad for the CL.

 

[marc71178]

An interesting read, isn't it? Pollard needs to play some four-day cricket before he can be picked for Tests, and he didn't do any of it for Trinidad this year....

Who was he playing for when the 4 day thing came around?

Interesting how he might pick Mumbai over Trinidad for the CL.

I'm not entirely sure, but does he actually have a say in the matter? If Mumbai say they want him I think he has to play for them.