Pollard insists no-ball was not deliberate

Barbados Tridents captain Kieron Pollard is insisting the now infamous no-ball that prevented St Kitts and Nevis Patriots batsman Evin Lewis from getting to 100 in Sunday’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL) preliminary round finale was un-intentionally bowled, according to an interview on SportsMax channel.

In a sensational performance against the Tridents, Lewis cracked boundaries to all parts of the ground, ending with a scorching 97 from just 32 balls. However, needing one ball to win and just three runs short of what would have been a well-deserved century Lewis faced compatriot Pollard for the final delivery of the innings.

Striding down the wicket the big all-rounder overstepped the crease on the delivery causing the game to end on somewhat of a sour note.

Although firmly insisting that it was simply not in his nature to lob-up an easy delivery for the in-form batsman to whack away, Pollard insists he had all intention to bowl a legal ball.

“When I took up that ball on that last delivery I had one thought in mind, trying to bowl my best delivery, what has been working for (me) throughout the tournament, a short delivery to see if he would have a waft at it and it would go up in the air and we could get him out,” he stated.

“Although we would have lost the game, I was still thinking about getting him out and using my strength what I have been doing.

“Unfortunately, striving for that extra I stepped over the marker and I think that has been the talking point of what actually happened the actual no-ball itself,” Pollard said.

The bowler pointed to an instance earlier in the match where he had bowled another illegal delivery, but it had little impact.

“When we look at in the first over striving for that extra I also bowled a no-ball. It wasn’t intentional. Nothing was intentional at any point in time. I had a free hit, he hit it for six. It wasn’t a problem.”

Pollard said he spoke to Lewis since the incident and they are on good terms. Pollard felt there was nothing to apologise for saying, “No I did not apologise to him. To me there is nothing to apologise for. I was within the competitive spirit of the game at that point in time and as I said we laughed it off.”