PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Sep 9, CMC – Cricket West Indies president, Ricky Skerritt, has branded newly-appointed white-ball captain Kieron Pollard as “the right man at the right time”, and said that he believes there will be no resulting bad blood from the sacking of Jason Holder as one-day skipper.
In fact, Skerritt says he and Holder will sit down in St Kitts later this week to discuss the new shift in leadership, when the Barbadian all-rounder arrives there with Barbados Tridents to take on St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League today.
“We spoke yesterday (Sunday) morning. As you know, he’s very much involved in the CPL where he is leading the Barbados Tridents,” Skerritt told reporters here Monday.
“Jason Holder is a very potent force, he’s still going to be our red-ball captain and he and Mr Pollard I’m sure will share a lot of time together and a lot of experiences and strategies together.
“I hope that Jason Holder will compete for a place on Mr Pollard’s teams. I hope this will gave Jason Holder an opportunity to be an even better cricketer than he has been in white-ball cricket, in which I think he has tremendous potential.”
He added: “Mr Pollard, we believe, is the right man at the right time to move the development of our white ball cricket forward and I have no doubt Jason Holder will continue to play as big a role as he wants to play in West Indies cricket.
“He has not shown any type of major upset to me and we’ve agreed to have a chat in St Kitts …”
CWI on Monday announced Holder’s sacking, along with that of Twenty20 skipper Carlos Brathwaite, with the 32-year-old Pollard taking over from both.
Holder, also the Test captain, assumed the helm of the one-day squad in December, 2014, but failed to register a single series victory, while winning only 24 of his 86 games in charge.
The 27-year-old oversaw the Caribbean side’s disastrous World Cup campaign two months ago where they won just two of 10 matches to finish one from bottom in ninth – their worst-ever showing at the global showpiece.
Pollard, who has not played an ODI in three years, said he did not anticipate any disruptions taking over from Holder.
“Jason has been captain of the West Indies team for the last five years or so and he has a lot of experience,” Pollard pointed out.
“I’ve played with Jason, he’s played under me, I’ve played under him so I don’t foresee any problems with us having conversations and trying to do what is best for West Indies cricket.
Pollard brings an unflattering record to the post, averaging 25 with the bat in 101 ODIs and nearly 40 with the ball. His record in T20s for West Indies also does not make for great reading either, with a batting average of 21 and just three fifties in 62 matches.
However, CWI vice-president Kishore Shallow said Pollard had been the “ideal” choice for the role based on his leadership qualities.
“We had a series of interviews and we have a criteria for leadership,” Dr Shallow explained.
“One of the key components was that our white-ball team needs a solid leader at this point, someone with experience, someone who is current and we came to the conclusion that Kieron Pollard was the ideal person to lead our white-ball team.”
