Pollard hungry for more success

TRINBAGO KNIGHT Riders (TKR) captain Kieron Pollard is hungry for more success during the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL), as the back-to-back champions take on the struggling Barbados Tridents at Kensington Oval, Barbados today from 6 pm.

Before last evening’s contest between leaders Guyana Amazon Warriors and St Lucia Zouks, the TKR were on second spot with nine points (three behind Amazon Warriors). The Tridents are fifth with four points, the same as Jamaica Tallawahs but with a superior net run-rate.

The TKR started the tournament with four straight wins before losing on a Super Over away to St Kitts/Nevis Patriots on September 17, followed by a no-result against hosts St Lucia Zouks on Saturday.Pollard, speaking at a pre-game media conference yesterday, said, “For us, it’s a big game. We haven’t played cricket for the past couple days. We got rained out in St Lucia, after that defeat in St Kitts. I think we, as a team, we’re hungry.

“We’re looking forward to getting on the park and trying to test where we are, coming into the back end of the tournament. We’re hoping the rain stays away and we can play some cricket.”

This will be a clash between Pollard and Jason Holder, who he replaced as West Indies One Day International (ODI) captain earlier this month.

Pollard led Barbados Tridents from the CPL’s inception in 2013 until 2017, when he moved to St Lucia Stars (now Zouks).

This is his first season with TKR and he is unfazed by any tough reception he may face by the Kensington crowd.

“When I’m playing cricket, whatever the crowd is saying, it doesn’t bother me,” Pollard said. “I’m a professional cricketer. I concentrate on that white ball and, (with) the bat in hand, try to get my team over the line. Nothing is going to change.”

He continued, “Barbados (are) in a different scenario, they’re coming to beat us and that’s exactly how you want it to be. It’s just a matter of two teams with players going out on the field to fight.”

The Tridents have lost eight straight games at the Kensington Oval.

Holder said, “We’ve just got to play the perfect or complete game. I think we can be a lot tidier than we have been in the games so far. It’s just a matter of us to get the momentum going, in terms of our batting, put up some better totals as far as T20 cricket is concerned, and give our bowlers a little more to defend.”

Holder and coach Phil Simmons had to defend questions during the pre-match conference that the Tridents squad is “weak” and lacking in depth, particularly in the batting department.

Holder said, “I don’t know who you consider weak players” before Simmons interjected.

According to the former WI, Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan coach, “When you look at the draft, we selected what we thought were our strongest team. We’ve had players that have been injured, players who we’ve had to change because of national duties.”

Pollard came to the defence of the Tridents pair of Holder and Simmons. “It’s disheartening to hear people call players weak. A lot of people have opinions, but no-one is actually there in the firing line or understand what takes place in the heat of the battle.”

Simmons pointed out that WI batsman/wicketkeeper Shai Hope is still recovering from a finger injury that he suffered last month.

“He should only start back playing (by October) 5,” said the Tridents coach. “We have not replaced Shai Hope because, when we look around the Caribbean, we could not find an adequate replacement.”

In related news, Barbados-born English pace bowler Chris Jordan has replaced Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain in the TKR team and he can make his CPL debut today.