polard

ome 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'."[2] 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.[3] 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,[4] though he did manage to take two wickets in a defeat to Australia.[5]


Kieron Pollard bowling for Somerset during the 2010 FPt20.
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.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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.[10] 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 senior 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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[13]

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.[14]

KA Pollard's record in Twenty20 matches
  Matches Runs S/R HS 100s 50s Avg.
T20I[15] 55 762 133 63* 0 2 20.59
IPL[16] 123 2343 147 78 0 12 28.92
CLT20[17] 27 649 154 72* 0 3 30.90
CPL 67 1584 154 83* 0 10 33.70
Big Bash 20 311 154 65* 0 1 22.21
Natwest T20 Cup 26 588 170 89* 0 2 34.58
BPL 12 247 147 50* 0 1 35.28
PSL 10 201 172 47 0 0 40.20
Ram Slam 25 549 160 72* 0 3 54.90
Pollard has also represented the South Australian Redbacks in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash and 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.