CHESTER-LE-STREET, England, CMC – Captain Jason Holder has identified Nicholas Pooran as a special talent and has urged Cricket West Indies (CWI) to ensure the left-hander is properly managed going forward.
Pooran hit his maiden international hundred – 118 off 103 balls – on Monday as West Indies went down by 23 runs to Sri Lanka at the Riverside here.
Holder said the 23-year-old’s batting qualities made him an asset, and his continued development would be a boon to West Indies cricket.
“Once we look after Nicholas as best as we possibly can, we create an environment for him to learn and develop and I expect big things from him,” Holder said following his side’s sixth defeat.
“He’s got the talent, he’s got the ability to change gears, he’s very skilled and he can improvise. He’s got pretty much every shot in his locker. It’s just a matter for him to put it together more often than not.
“But I think we as a body, West Indies Cricket Board body, we have got to make sure that we can have things in place to continue to help these players to develop.”
Pooran entered the World Cup with just a single One-Day International to his name but has emerged as the batting leader with 309 runs at an average of 51.
His hundred came on the backs of a 63 against England at Southampton two weeks ago, 40 against Australia and an unbeaten 34 against Pakistan – the latter scores coming in Nottingham.
Holder said the Trinidadian’s form had come as no surprise and urged him to build on the experiences at the World Cup.
“What I have seen here of Nicholas prior to this entire World Cup is nothing surprising to me,” Holder pointed out.
“What he’s produced here is exactly what we expect him to produce. Ideally, we want him to get better and we want him to improve and he would only improve over a period of time.
“We have selected him for a reason and we give him full backing, we give him full confidence to go out there and play the game that he knows he needs to play.”
He continued: “Yes, he will make mistakes, he is a young player, and it is just important again for development to continue to take place for him and development. Learning is part of his development and he just needs to learn from the scenarios that he has put himself into.
“And we all need to learn from the scenarios that we have been faced with in this World Cup as well.”
The World Cup, which started with so much hope, has proven to be nothing but a nightmare for the Caribbean side.
They beat Pakistan in their opening game on May 31 but has not won since, racking up six defeats in their worst-ever World Cup showing to be ninth in the 10-team standings on three points.
Holder said coming out of the tournament, there needed to be strategic discussions so West Indies could move forward positively.
“Definitely in this World Cup … I have done lots of thinking and … trying to find ways and means of which we can continue to improve,” he said.
“Definitely [it] is a situation where we have got to sit down as a management group … as leaders of the organisation, and find things to put in place.
“We can’t let talent go to waste. It is our responsibility to make sure that we harness this talent as best as we possibly can and make sure that these guys get better.” West Indies face Afghanistan in their final match tomorrow at Leeds.
