Keiron Pollard speaks about grooming next generation of stars as West Indies seek to continue their upward trajectory in T20is.
Keiron Pollard is not concerned about the injuries in his side that has seen the likes of Bravo, Narine, and Russell on the sidelines.
“From a performance perspective, we’ve played eight games – won five and lost three. We’ll take that,” Pollard said before TKR’s final home game of the season, against Barbados Royals. “The first step in any tournament is to qualify. If we were in fifth or sixth place, it is a different conversation. So, you expect this to happen. This is T20 cricket but given all the obstacles that we’ve seen throughout the season. We will take where we are [fourth place] at this particular time.
“We still have an opportunity to finish in the top two. Still have to play good cricket and we still have to play consistent cricket but this happens. The tournament has got a bit harder, despite having names on paper. All teams are stronger and they are playing very, very good cricket. Tactically, they are up there in terms of how cricket should be played. That is a good sign for us in the Caribbean.”
Arguably the most famous T20 lineup was assembled by TKR. They have discovered some fresh T20 talent in CPL 2024. Shaqkere Parris, 21, and Keacy Carty, 27, who has already played for the West Indies in both ODI and Test cricket.
Parris has garnered interest from people outside of the Caribbean as well. R Ashwin recently claimed on his YouTube channel that Parris possesses Pollard’s “touch” following his 57 off 33 balls against St Lucia Kings in Gros Islet. Then, he hit Gudakesh Motie of the Guyana Amazon Warriors for a 124-meter six in Port-of-Spain. Pollard said that although he was happy with Parris’ development, the youth in the area still needed to improve.
“It augurs well. You talk about his scores in Barbados but he also played here in Trinidad as well for Victoria in the concluded local season as well,” Pollard said of Parris. “Again, it’s something as a team we had looked at in terms of scouting and he coming onto the scene and get an opportunity – play five games – and having a conversation about just not playing because you have to play but giving us an opportunity to select him as a normal player when that time comes is what exactly he’s done as an individual. So kudos must go to him as well, taking up the mantle to show that this is what he’s made of.
“This Under-23 is made for local guys to get the opportunity to fly the flag. For Parris and Nathan Edward, they’ve shown us what they can do. Hopefully in the future we can have more of those talents coming through. We need the next batches of the Bravos, the Narines and Pollards, Lendl Simmons and [Denesh] Ramdins from Trinidad as well. So, a lot of work to be done on that.”