Kieron Pollard taking Kevin Sinclair through the ropes at training
On Sunday, June 27, 2021, South Africa shocked West Indies and levelled the five-match T20I series 1-1. The Kieron Pollard-led side will now be looking to rebound today at 14:00 hrs as they kick off the third T20I. In a press conference, the Windies Captain noted that the team are thinking about winning and going out and get the best results.
Pollard also touched on the non-selection of Guyanese Shimron Hetmyer in the 13-man squad after he was a part of the 18-man training camp.
“Shimron is fit and well and he has been training; we have a provisional squad of 18 guys and each and every body will get a chance at some time. It’s only 11 can play and when you look at different combinations you have to take them all into consideration. So, it’s not just one individual, we have guys like Cottrell, Oshane, Hayden Walsh, all these guys, but we continue to hear the noise about one individual. But at the end of the day, this is a team and everyone will get an opportunity in terms of a combination when we see it fit,” Pollard added.
The West Indies Captain noted that he has accepted the fact that in the second T20I there were certain areas that went wrong. However, he relayed that it was his belief that once the team have accepted their mistakes, it was now a matter of coming out and showing that they have learnt from what transpired the day before. He stated that having spectators in the ground was a big plus as it brought the adrenaline and motivation for them. Pollard was adamant that despite it not being a stadium packed with fans but a limited number, the atmosphere was brilliant.
As it relates to who will feature in the third and fourth T20I, Pollard said, “We don’t have specific targets of what we want the guys to attain, but we want to play cricket as a team and win. In T20 cricket is just about two or three players on any given day is going to perform. So, some guys might not get the opportunity sort of address management or the selectors, so we can’t actually put numbers and names of what we expect from them. But we do expect that whatever role they have been given, they are to perform that. With a long series, some guys might perform and miss a couple games or vice versa. So, it’s just a situation of realising what we need and not change the combination too much, but we have one target and one end goal, which is to win.”
The West Indies in both T20Is played featured a team that consisted of few batsmen and mostly all-rounders. They had batting up to number nine which to some showed their batting depth, but begged the question of the team playing an express pacer in their 11-man line-up such as Cottrell or Oshane. Pollard responded by owning up to the fact that having Dwayne Bravo batting at number nine was a plus. He further divulged that knowing there was a player of that calibre batting at that position speaks well, but their loss in the second T20I came mainly as a result of them not using cricket smarts. He said that failing to attain the total set before them had nothing to do with their batting, but more so a lack of using intelligence to get the total. He went on to say that having batting so far down the line-up was a luxury, but noted that they must guard against leaving the work to be done by another player.
“Whoever is there will have to take the team home; in game one, it was good to see Chris and Andre finishing it. We would like to see that more often than not, but being human beings and playing a sport, these things do happen and we will have to look for that to not happen on a regular basis,” Pollard lamented.
He was very adamant that the team not playing an express pacer in their eleven was merely a matter of different considerations and while it may be two games alone, the team was working to be one step ahead.
