Kieron Pollard appointed new West Indies’ limited-overs captain: Report

Kieron Pollard appointed new West Indies’ limited-overs captain: Report
Arnulfo Franco/AP

CricketCountry reported on Sunday that Cricket West Indies (CWI) has sacked Jason Holder and Carlos Brathwaite as ODI and T20I captains, respectively, with Kieron Pollard set to take over the duties in limited-overs cricket.

“The decision comes after West Indies’ finished ninth among the 10 participating teams at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England earlier this year,” CricketCountry said.

“Following their disastrous performance at the showpiece ODI event, West Indies also suffered defeats to India in a T20I series (0-3) and ODI series (0-2), which they hosted,” it added.

Basing its information on a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, CricketCountry said the decision to appoint Pollard as the white-ball captain was taken by CWI Board of Directors on Saturday during their two-day quarterly meet in Port-of-Spain, the Trinidad and Tobago capital.

“The selection committee proposed his name and, when vote was taken, six directors backed him while the remaining six abstained,” CricketCountry said.

It said while Pollard is a T20I regular, he hasn’t played an ODI in almost three years.

“His last ODI appearance was in October 2016 and, despite calls for his inclusion, he was left out of the West Indies squad for the world cup in England,” CricketCountry said.

It said the 32-year-old batting allrounder was the top-run getter in the India T20I series, scoring 115 in three innings including a half-century.

Pollard has played 101 ODIs, scored 2,289 runs alongside three centuries and nine half-centuries, CricketCountry said.

In 62 T20Is, it said Pollard has 903 runs, with three fifties, and boasts of a career strike-rate of 125.41.

Currently, Pollard is captaining Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in the absence of allrounder Dwayne Bravo who will be out of action for two months following a finger injury, CricketCountry said.