#A CRACK IN TIME GOLD BOLTS FULL#
He was only recalled in June 2016, by which time Darren Sammy had led the Windies to a second T20 World Cup crown, but the wheel came a full circle in 2019 when Pollard was named the captain of the ODI and T20I team following the 2019 50-over World Cup in England. Indeed, he wasn’t picked by the authorities to the national side for nearly a year and a half between 20 in the immediacy of West Indies pulling out midway through their tour of India in December 2014 with one ODI, one T20I and three Tests still to be played following a pay dispute between the players and the West Indian board.
Perhaps, like many others of his era who found Cricket West Indies (as it is now known) a confrontational elder than a benevolent parent, Pollard struggled to summon the same passion while playing for West Indies as he did for the various franchises that cherished and celebrated him to no end.
It might be argued that Pollard is an impact player whose worth can’t be measured through sheer numbers alone, but he hasn’t quite turned in the same game-turning performances for West Indies as he has for, say, Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League or Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League. Just 2,161 runs and 55 wickets from 123 ODIs don’t do justice to the enormous potential nestling in a strong exterior. If the 34-year-old Trinidadian’s T20I stats pale in comparison only with his international record, his 50-over production chart for West Indies is a lot more disappointing. Clearly, for all his immense talent, Pollard found the otherwise demanding cauldron of franchise cricket a lot easier to stride than he did international cricket, even though he was a member of the West Indian team that won the 2012 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka and is one of only two batsmen, apart from Yuvraj Singh, to have struck six sixes in an over in a T20I. No more than 1,569 runs in 101 T20Is at 25.30 and a strike-rate of 135.14, 42 wickets at an economy of 8.32. Those are exceptional numbers, among the very best in the world.Ĭontrast these with his international equivalents. He has also taken 305 wickets, economy rate 8.22. In all T20 cricket (before Thursday’s IPL game between his Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings), Pollard has amassed 11,523 runs at 31.31, and a strike-rate of 151.73. That’s where the numbers make for interesting reading. Across the globe, he has played 588 Twenty20 games for a variety of teams, 101 of those for the collection of Caribbean islands who grace international cricket under the name of West Indies. His numbers aren’t shabby – 1,584 runs at 37.71, inclusive of four centuries and a best of 174 – but he didn’t appear to relish the prospect of four or five days in a row on the park, choosing instead to focus his incredible energies for club and country in the 50- and 20-over versions.īy all accounts, Pollard is a sensational limited-overs exponent. That Pollard wasn’t enamoured with the longer version is obvious from the fact that he only played 27 first-class games over an eight-year period. Indeed, only David Miller has played more white-ball games for his country (238) without playing a Test match, which is a nice piece of trivia to be aware of than any great reflection of either man’s prowess as a red-ball player. Yet, Pollard reserved his best, it seemed, more for the various clubs and franchises he represented than West Indies, for whom he played 224 games, all of the limited-overs version. He was the complete limited-overs package, an all-rounder worth his weight in gold. For such a big man, he moved brilliantly across the turf, was agile and nimble and athletic. His bowling wasn’t express, even if his frame might have suggested otherwise, but he was smart and crafty, nipping it here, swinging it there, cutting it here and there. He was a terrific striker of the cricket ball, strong and powerful but also blessed with touch and timing.
There seemed no reason why the powerfully built all-rounder should not set the international stage alight. In so many ways, Pollard has been an enigma since his international debut, as a 19-year-old under Brian Lara in the 2007 World Cup in the Caribbean. The West Indian limited-overs skipper’s decision might have come like a bolt from the blue to the uninitiated, but obviously, a lot of thought must have gone behind the call, especially with the next T20 World Cup less than six months away. In keeping with the modern trend, Kieron Pollard announced his retirement from international cricket through a social media post on Wednesday. There was a time, not too long back, when cricketers allowed themselves the luxury of one final press conference in an active capacity, one last interaction with the media before they entered the realms of a ‘former international’.