Kieron Pollard

Kieron Pollard

Personal information
Full name	Kieron Adrian Pollard
Born	(1987-05-12) 12 May 1987 Tacarigua, Trinidad and Tobago
Nickname	Polly
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm medium-fast
Role	All-rounder
International information
National side	West Indies
ODI debut (cap 134)	10 April 2007 v South Africa
Last ODI	17 October 2014 v India
T20I debut (cap 27)	20 June 2008 v Australia
Last T20I	14 January 2015 v South Africa
Domestic team information
Years	Team
2006–present	Trindad and Tobago
2009-2011	South Australian Redbacks
2010–present	Mumbai Indians
2010–2011	Somerset
2012–2013	Dhaka Gladiators
2013–present	Barbados Tridents
2014-present	Adelaide Strikers
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I FC LA Matches 91 43 27 121 Runs scored 2,042 633 1,584 2,818 Batting average 25.20 22.60 37.71 27.35 100s/50s 3/7 0/2 4/7 3/13 Top score 119 63* 174 119 Balls bowled 1,806 390 811 2,367 Wickets 44 19 14 76 Bowling average 38.11 28.05 31.14 28.09 5 wickets in innings 0 0 1 0 10 wickets in match n/a n/a 0 n/a Best bowling 3/27 3/30 5/36 4/32 Catches/stumpings 50/– 20/– 42/– 74/–
Source: CricketArchive, 12 April 2015

Kieron Adrian Pollard (born 12 May 1987) is a Trinidadian cricketer who plays for the West Indies. An aggressive all-rounder, Pollard provides medium-fast pace bowling and big-hitting from the middle-order. After shining during the 2009 Champions League Twenty20, he was signed by both the Southern Redbacks and Somerset for their domestic Twenty20 campaigns. He was the joint highest paid player in the 2010 Indian Premier League, playing for Mumbai Indians.

Career

Early life and career

Pollard was born in Tacarigua, Trinidad and Tobago, where he was raised, along with two younger sisters, in a poor home by his single mother. Speaking about it, Pollard reflects "It was pretty tough, it wasn't ideal getting up and your mum say 'We only have X amount of money'."^[1] After representing Trinidad and Tobago in the 2005 TCL Group West Indies Under-19 Challenge, he was selected as part of the West Indies Under-19 cricket team to tour Pakistan. Pollard top-scored for the West Indies in the first youth One Day International (ODI), scoring 53 runs off 49 balls.^[2] Pollard made another half-century in the second match, but didn't manage to make double figures in either of last two games. He was named in the West Indies squad for the 2006 U/19 Cricket World Cup, held in Sri Lanka, where he only managed to make 19–runs in his four innings,^[3] though he did manage to take two wickets in a defeat to Australia.^[4]

During the 2006 English season he came to England to play for Haxey CC in Lincolnshire; he played five games for the club before he was recalled by Trinidad and Tobago to play in the Stanford Twenty20.^[5] Pollard made his senior debut for Trinidad and Tobago in the twenty20 competition against the Cayman Islands in July 2006. He finished the tournament with a respectable return of six wickets, and starred in the semi-final against Nevis, scoring 83 runs off just 38 balls, an innings which included 7 sixes to book Trinidad and Tobago's place in the final.^[6] He made his first-class debut six months later against Barbados, and marked the occasion with a century. As in the Twenty20, his innings contained a large number of boundaries, with 86 of his 126 runs coming from either fours or sixes.^[7] A score of 46 not out on his List A debut ensured that Pollard was in the selector's minds for the upcoming World Cup, and he described it as "a dream come true" when he was selected in the provisional 30-man squad for the tournament.^[8] Pollard's "dream run" continued with half-centuries in both four-day and 50-over matches against Guyana, followed by his second first-class century, coming against the Leeward Islands.^[9] Against Jamaica, Pollard showed his bowling ability, claiming four wickets in his seven overs to claim his fifth man of the match award in his 15th major cricket match. Trinidad and Tobago remained unbeaten in the 2006–07 KFC Cup, beating Windward Islands in the final to claim the trophy. Pollard finished as the competition's leading run-scorer, making 261 runs from his seven innings at an average of over 40.^[10]

Later Career

The 2008–09 West Indies Cricket Board Cup saw an improvement in Pollard's bowling, as he claimed nine wickets in the competition with a bowling average of 14.22.^[11] An all-round performance against Jamaica in the semi-finals, in which he took three wickets and made 76, earnt Trinidad and Tobago a place in the final, and Pollard the man of the match award.^[12]

In the 2009 Champions league T-20 for Trinidad & Tobago, Pollard hit 54 runs in just 18 balls in the 15th match against New South Wales in Hyderabad. This earned the man of the match award and his side a crucial win. His display of hitting was so impressive that NSW approached Pollard after the game and attempted to sign him for themselves.^[13]

KA Pollard's record in Twenty20 matches[14]
	Matches	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg.
T20I[15]	37	569	63*	0	2	22.76
IPL[16]	61	1059	66*	0	5	25.82
CLT20[17]	25	592	72*	0	3	31.15

Pollard also represents the South Australian Redbacks in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. He also signed for Somerset County Cricket Club for the 2010 Friends Provident t20.^[18]

Although named in the provisional 30-man squad for the 2007 ICC World Twenty20,^[19] Pollard failed to make the cut for the tournament. The absence of Pollard and Lendl Simmons from the West Indies performance squad in 2007–08 was described as "baffling" by Tony Cozier, describing how the pair "had been seemingly identified as among those for the future but have quickly been shunted aside."^[20] Pollard was disappointing as Trinidad and Tobago won the 2007–08 Stanford Twenty20, averaging nine from his three innings.^[21]

Pollard was recalled to the West Indies ODI squad for the series against Sri Lanka. The match was rained off after 18.2 overs of the West Indian run-chase with Pollard not required to bat.^[22] He retained his place in the squad for the home series against Australia, but after scores of 11 and 0 in the first two matches, he was dropped for the final three.

Despite his poor form in the previous season's Stanford Twenty20, Pollard was named as part of the initial 32-member Stanford Superstars Twenty20 squad. The squad would provide the starters for the US$20 million winner-takes-all match against England later in the year.^[23] After a series of practice matches, Pollard was included in the team for the warm-up match against his Trinidad and Tobago side, where he made 24 runs off 14 balls and claimed the wicket of captain Daren Ganga.^[24] He followed this up with a nine-ball 27 against Middlesex, including three consecutive sixes in the last over.^[25] In the final, Pollard claimed the wickets of Andrew Flintoff and Luke Wright to help limit England to a total of 99, which Super Stars openers Chris Gayle and Andre Fletcher chased down in 12.4 overs.^[26]

Later career

The 2008–09 West Indies Cricket Board Cup saw an improvement in Pollard's bowling, as he claimed nine wickets in the competition with a bowling average of 14.22.^[27] An all-round performance against Jamaica in the semi-finals, in which he took three wickets and made 76, earnt Trinidad and Tobago a place in the final, and Pollard the man of the match award.^[28]

In the 2009 Champions league T-20 for Trinidad & Tobago, Pollard hit 54 runs in just 18 balls in the 15th match against New South Wales in Hyderabad. This earned the man of the match award and his side a crucial win. His display of hitting was so impressive that NSW approached Pollard after the game and attempted to sign him for themselves.^[29]

KA Pollard's record in Twenty20 matches[30]
	Matches	Runs	HS	100s	50s	Avg.
T20I[31]	37	569	63*	0	2	22.76
IPL[32]	61	1059	66*	0	5	25.82
CLT20[33]	25	592	72*	0	3	31.15

Pollard also represents the South Australian Redbacks in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash. He also signed for Somerset County Cricket Club for the 2010 Friends Provident t20.^[34]

Indian Premier League

Pollard's impressive performance in the 2009 Champions League Twenty20 and the Big Bash led to him being one of the most sought after players at the 2010 IPL auction. After some aggressive bidding, the Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore all bid the maximum allowed; $750,000. A 'silent-tiebreaker' was won by the Mumbai Indians, which retained him in 2011 IPL. He was adjudged Man of the Match in the 2013 IPL final because of his all-round display.

ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2010

After his impressive performance at Indian Premier League for the Mumbai Indians, the West Indian all-rounder was picked in the West Indian squad for 2010 ICC World Twenty20.

Domestic 2010 season

Pollard had a successful 2010 Friends Provident t20 for Somerset, helping them to the final of the competition on 14 August 2010. He scored 354 runs during the competition at 32.18 – the second highest Somerset batting average – including two half centuries at a strike rate of 175.24 runs per 100 balls. He also took 29 wickets at 15.10, second among all Somerset's bowlers.^[35] He took an impressive catch on the boundary in the semi final against Nottinghamshire,^[36] and then scored 22 from seven balls in the final match against Hampshire, including two sixes and a four, before Dominic Cork injured him with a bouncer that required hospital treatment.^[37][38]

On the back of Pollard's domestic performance he was offered a central contract which he turned down because that would force him to be available for West Indies selection all the time and Pollard wanted to play Twenty20 cricket as well. Despite this his good performances meant that he was selected for the West Indies in the ODI and Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka as several high profile names such as Denesh Ramdin and Ramnaresh Sarwan had been dropped.^[39]

International centuries

One Day International centuries

One Day International centuries of Kieron Pollard[40]
#	Runs	Balls	Against	City/Country	Venue	Year	Result
1	119	52	India	Chennai, India	M. A. Chidambaram Stadium	2011	Lost
2	102	55	Australia	Gros Islet, St Lucia	Beausejour Stadium	2012	Won
3	109*	72	Australia	Sydney, Australia	Sydney Cricket Ground	2013	Lost

References

External links

• Player profile: Kieron Pollard from ESPNcricinfo
• Player profile: Kieron Pollard from CricketArchive

Links to related articles Trinidad and Tobago squad – Current Squad 1 D Ganga 3 J Mohammed 5 S Ganga 7 Badree 14 Rampaul 15 Barath 20 Cooper 24 Narine 31 D Mohammed 46 DM Bravo 47 DJ Bravo 51 Emrit 54 Simmons 55 Pollard 80 Ramdin (c)  Kelly  Jaggernauth  Perkins  Guillen  Gabriel  Kanhai  Khan  Lewis Coach: Williams Mumbai Indians – current squad 3 Harbhajan 5 Finch 8 Hazlewood 9 Rayudu 12 Bumrah 15 Chand 16 Suchith 19 Gopal 23 V Kumar 27 Tare 30 P Ojha 33 Suyal 45 Rohit (c) 54 Simmons 55 Pollard 72 P Patel 78 Anderson 81 McClenaghan 90 de Lange 99 Malinga 228 Pandya  Lad  Blizzard  Mithun  Wakhare  Rana Coach: Ponting Adelaide Strikers – current squad 10 Putland 15 Ludeman (†) 17 Hodge 20 Neser 22 Botha(c) 23 Richardson 25 Holland 27 Sayers 29 Kingston 32 Tait 34 Head 37 Lawford 49 Ross 50 Simmons 55 Pollard 56 Laughlin 63 Zampa 73 ten Doeschate 77 Dean Coach: Berry West Indies Squad – 2007 Cricket World Cup 6 Chanderpaul 9 Lara (c) 28 Devon Smith 32 Collymore 39 Powell 45 Gayle 46 Bradshaw 47 Bravo 50 Dwayne Smith 52 Samuels 53 Sarwan 54 Simmons 55 Pollard 75 Taylor 80 Ramdin (wk) Coach: King West Indies Squad – 2011 Cricket World Cup 1 Sammy (c) 2 Gayle 3 Bishoo 4 DM Bravo 5 Pollard 6 Sarwan 7 Smith 8 Thomas (wk) 9 Benn 10 Miller 11 Russell 12 Rampaul 13 Roach 14 Chanderpaul 15 Edwards Coach: Gibson Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh and Dwayne Bravo were replaced due to injury by Kirk Edwards, Devon Thomas and Devendra Bishoo respectively. West Indies Squad – 2009 ICC World Twenty20 Semi-Finalists 6 Chanderpaul 8 Bernard 10 Marshall 20 Edwards 44 Baker 45 Gayle (c) 47 Bravo 53 Sarwan 54 Simmons 55 Pollard 62 Benn 72 Fletcher 75 Taylor 80 Ramdin 88 Sammy Coach: Dyson West Indies Squad – 2010 ICC World Twenty20 6 Chanderpaul 12 Deonarine 14 Rampaul 24 Roach 33 Miller 45 Gayle (c) 47 Bravo 53 Sarwan 55 Pollard 62 Benn 68 Hinds 72 Fletcher 75 Taylor 80 Ramdin 88 Sammy Coach: Gibson West Indies Squad – 2012 ICC World Twenty20 (1st Title) 7 Samuels 12 Russell 14 Rampaul 20 Edwards 25 Charles 45 Gayle 46 DM Bravo 47 DJ Bravo 50 Smith 54 Simmons (wk) 55 Pollard 74 Narine 77 Badree 80 Ramdin (wk) 88 Sammy (c) Coach: Ottis Gibson