LONDON – Kieron Pollard says his priorities are shifting now that his financial future is more secure, and he intends to focus on finding a place in the West Indies Test team next year.
The West Indies all-rounder has been pigeonholed as a limited-overs specialist since making his One-Day International debut four years ago.
Pollard has become a millionaire out of the game, despite never having played a Test match, his explosive hitting earning him year-round work in various Twenty20 leagues around the world.
Only this week, he signed with the Adelaide Strikers to play in Australia’s expanded Big Bash League, but he said he now had an eye on a Test place.
“Test cricket is always going to be the ultimate,” he told the Daily Telegraph newspaper in England. “My ambition is to play in all three formats.
“Next year, I’m going to play more first-class cricket. I decided not to go to the T20 tournament in South Africa because I wanted to play first-class cricket in the Caribbean. The Sri Lankan league is off now, but I pulled out of that as well.”
Pollard has a decent first-class batting record, scoring 1 247 runs at an average of 37.78 in 21 matches.
He said he was well aware of the criticisms levelled at him because of his decision to pursue financial security over a meaningful legacy in the game, pointing to his humble beginnings.
“[I come from] a place where there is a lot of criminal activities, and stuff like that,” he said.
“Coming from a family background with a single mother, being the eldest, I was the one who had to go to school in order to have a better life.”
Pollard said if he had not become a professional cricketer, he would have gone back to school and become a law enforcer but he got a lucky break when Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the Champions League.
Pollard said his life changed following a spectacular innings of 54 from 18 balls against New South Wales in the CLT20.
“The rewards came after that one innings,” he said.
“It just got out of my imagination. I got a call from the IPL, something I had wanted to join before, but couldn’t get a sniff. Then a contract in Australia. Then an English contract.”
“I don’t think anyone who had those things coming towards them would not take it.
With the situation I was in, with my family, it was a decision I had to make.
“People have said a lot of things: ‘T20 freelancer’, ‘it’s only about the money’. But my instinct is to provide and to play cricket. My two sisters are still at school, my mum is still at home, and I provide for every one of them. I told my mum that she doesn’t have to work now.” (CMC)
