Pollard ‘looks out of place’ at international level

Jan 08, 2009 Sports

Reprimanded for breaking glass door after another failure

Kieron Pollard

By Sean Devers
At 6ft 3ins, 21-year-old Kieron Pollard should be an imposing figure for opponents on a cricket field, but the right-handed Trinidadian all-rounder continues to look out of place at the international level.
His shock selection for the last World Cup and return to the regional side for the present series in New Zealand emphasizes just how much the standard of regional cricket has dropped and how far away our young players are from the requirements of international cricket.
Being picked on potential is now the norm instead of the exception and if this trend continues without anything substantial being done to lift the level of club and regional competitions, West Indies will continue to struggle near the bottom of the international ranking for a long time.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul might be deemed selfish, but he values his wicket and scores runs consistently even as the others, including Skipper Chris Gayle and Ramnaresh Sarwan, recklessly throw their wickets away with impetuous shots.
If the present trend continues, one shudders to think about how the West Indies will cope in Test cricket when the now 34-year-old Guyanese eventually calls it a day.
A former West Indies under-19 player, Pollard got the attention of regional selectors and fans with a pugnacious 83 from 38 balls for Trinidad and Tobago three years ago in the inaugural Stanford 20/20 tournament. Five months later, the powerful right-hander hit the first ball he faced in first-class cricket for six in a brutal 126 with 11 fours and seven sixes against Barbados in Barbados.
His savage 31-ball 69 against Guyana in his next match was decorated with six sixes and a four, while his 117 from 87 balls with 11 fours and six sixes against the Leewards set tongues wagging as he scored 420 runs from 10 innings at an average of 42 in his debut first-class season.
Still wet behind the ears but with his big hitting as recommendation, Pollard was selected for the World Cup where he failed to feature in his lone match against South Africa. He managed just 10.
“I’m just looking to play for the team, whatever role I have. I don’t think I’ll be too nervous, I love a challenge and I’m looking forward to it. From grade cricket to the West Indies team has been very fast, a dream come true but very overwhelming. Up until last year I was watching the guys on television, getting the chance to play with them was a great feeling,” Pollard said just after his World Cup selection.
His nervous demeanor and lackadaisical approach in this series in New Zealand suggest that he is a man who does not feel he really belongs at this level and his elevation from grade to international cricket has been too fast. If there is not a marked improvement in his all-round cricket urgently, he could soon be watching the action again on TV.
Without a first-class ton last year and after another failure on Tuesday night (Guyana time) Pollard, who now has 28 runs and averages 4.66 from seven ODIs, was officially reprimanded for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the third ODI after he was unlucky to be given LBW for one.
Pollard, whose body language (even in his fielding and bowling) does not suggest confidence, was reprimanded for damaging the glass panel of a dressing-room door just after his dismissal. Pollard left the field visibly disappointed – swinging his bat in disgust – and ended up venting his frustration in the pavilion. He has now scraped together seven runs from his three innings in this series.
After a hearing at the end of the game, Javagal Srinath, the match referee, found Pollard to have violated Level 1.2 of the code which relates to “abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, group equipment of fixtures and fittings”.
Level 1 offences carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand and a maximum penalty of a fine equivalent to 50% of a player’s match fee. Pollard, 21, was let off without a fine. “The player pleaded guilty to the charge and apologised for his actions to New Zealand Cricket,” Srinath said. “This apology and the fact he is relatively early in his career were taken into consideration.”
A gesture of pointing a finger to his head on taking a wicket in the last ODI by New Zealand Skipper Daniel Vettori aptly summed up the problem with West Indies cricket and if the mental aspects of our cricketers and young people in general in the Caribbean and Guyana is not seriously addressed before it is too late, we could lose an entire generation of talented individuals without the mental capacity to transform their talent into meaningful production.
After the latest defeat when his team was bowled out for 128 with only Chanderpaul showing fight, Skipper Gayle described the batting as terrible.
“I’m very disappointed with the batters. We had the opportunity to go out there and put some runs on the board but instead we played terrible cricket. The batting conditions weren’t difficult. There were no demons in the wicket,” he said. “It was a good batting wicket. Early on it was a bit two-paced and there was a bit of uneven bounce but when you get in on a wicket like that then you’ll get runs. We didn’t capitalise on that.” Gayle lamented.
Vettori took 4-20 and Gayle said the batsmen should be familiar with him by now. “Most of the guys here have been in the Test series and have seen Vettori over and over,” he said. “I’m sure they can make some adjustment. “He has been playing for years. We’ve seen him in the Test matches and in the last couple of one-dayers so there’s no excuse for batters saying Vettori is giving them problems. It’s time to come up with some formula and game-plan.”
A recent survey in Barbados showed that West Indies cricketers are intellectually inferior to their opponents and Tuesday night’s brainless batting indicates that the problem is worse than we think.
If only the players, and not the system that produces them in the West Indies is changed, there will be plenty more Pollards; who dominate at regional level but lack the mental and technical skills to survive at the international level. Remember a guy called Dwayne Smith?

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