By Tony McWatt
– Publisher
As almost everyone connected with
the sport in even the remotest manner
would have heard by now, West
Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard has
announced his immediate retirement
from international cricket. Pollard’s
April 20th announcement, which would
have come as a major surprise to most,
has now created some very interesting
possibilities for the structure of West
Indies’ white-ball cricket teams in the
immediate future.
At the time of his resignation, Pollard
was, of course, the incumbent West
Indies white-ball captain, having led the
team in both formats since his October
2019 appointment as Jason Holder’s
replacement.
During his fifteen-year international career, Pollard established
himself as a legendary trailblazer
for West Indies’ white-ball cricket.
He became the first-ever player to
represent the West Indies in 100 T20I
matches and also donned the maroon
colors in a total of 123 ODI matches.
In the course of his West Indies ODI
career, Pollard scored 2706 runs and
captured 55 wickets. In T20I matches
he tallied 1569 runs at an outstanding
overall strike rate of 135.14. He also
snared 42 wickets with his handy
medium-pace.
In timing his announcement as he did,
just a month after he’d led his team to an
exciting T20 Series win against England
at home, but several months before the
West Indies begins its quest for glory
at the format’s Australia-hosted World
Cup later this year, Pollard may have
given Caribbean cricket his greatest gift
ever. It was certainly most unselfish of
him to have announced his retirement
when he did.
The timing of Pollard’s announcement
has now presented West Indies Lead
Selector Desmond Haynes and the
other members of his Panel, Co-
Selector Ramnaresh Sarwan and Head
Coach Phil Simmons, with sufficient time
to identify his most suitable replacement
as white-ball captain. Haynes and Co’s
first major deliberation in that regard
will be as to whether there should be a
solitary choice or separate captains for
the West Indies respective T20 and ODI
teams.
The expressed preference by the
majority of international teams, including
the West Indies in terms of both Pollard
and his immediate predecessor Jason
Holder, has been that of a solitary
captain. Should Haynes and Co decide
to continue that trend the West Indies’
current T20I vice-captain, his fellow
Trinidadian Nicholas Pooran, would
appear to be the most obvious and very
best choice to step into Pollard’s now
abandoned shoes as West Indies whiteball
captain.
In the few opportunities he’s had at
performing the role, occasioned as they
have been by injuries to Pollard, Pooran
has acquitted himself fairly well. So
much so that months before Pollard’s
actual announcement many voices
within Caribbean cricket circles had
already been clamoring for Pooran to be
appointed as his captaincy replacement.
It will now, therefore, be very interesting
to see whether Pooran does indeed
secure the appointment as West Indies
captain in both white-ball formats. It will
also be just as interesting to see exactly
who Haynes & Co will also subsequently
identify as the vice-captain(s) of the
respective T20 and ODI teams.
There are those within Caribbean cricket
circles, myself included, who feel that
Haynes & Co would do well to appoint
Guyana’s Shimron Hetmeyer as the vicecaptain
for both the West Indies T20I and ODI teams. Providing of course that
he, Hetmeyer, can meet the required
fitness standards in a manner sufficient
as to allow his selection to the respective
teams, which given his most obvious
prodigious talents should otherwise
become automatic.
In that regard, the West Indies’
next international white-ball cricket
engagement will be its forthcoming May
30th – June 9th 3 ODIs Tour to Holland.
The significance of which will be the
associated opportunity for both teams
to collect much-needed points towards
their respective qualifications for next
year’s 2023 ICC World Cup.
Following the Holland Tour, the West
Indies will also be hosts to Bangladesh,
India and New Zealand in white-ball
series before their departure to Australia
to participate in this year’s T20 World
Cup. Plenty of time, therefore, for
Haynes & Co to make all the relevant
decisions.
While those of us on the sidelines now
watch and wait for events to unfold as
they will, we should all in the interim
express our most sincere appreciation to
Kieron Pollard for his provided service to
West Indies cricket. Cheers to you Polly
for your outstanding career!