Pollard fails to make CPL All Star squad

Article by BEA DOTTIN

Despite?his steady all-round effort with bat, ball and superb catching, captain Kieron Pollard wasn’t among the four Barbados Tridents players named in a Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL) All Star 12-man squad selected following the staging of the inaugural T20 tournament.
Pollard scored 131 runs at an average of 26.20 and a strike rate of 128.43; took five wickets but had the fourth best econony rate of 5.64 runs per over and held an amazing tournament-high 16 catches in eight matches.
According to a press release from the organizers, the side, announced yesterday by the CPL organzers includes six players from the finalists, the Jamaica Tallawahs and the Guyana Amazon Warriors, was chosen on the basis of it being balanced and capable of playing a match.
The team, captained by Tallawahs opening batsman and skipper Chris Gayle, involves a playing 11 with Barbadian off-spinner Ashley Nurse as 12th man.
The other Tridents players are Trinidadian Rayad Emrit and all-rounders Shoaib Malik and Shakib Al Hasan, of Pakistan and Bangladesh, respectively.
“Selections were made from performances in the tournament only; past records and reputations were not taken into consideration. The captain was only selected once the side had been chosen,” the release said, noting players had to play in a minimum of four matches to be eligible for selection.
The selection panel was made up of Mike Procter, the former South Africa all-rounder and a match referee in the tournament, ex-West Indies and Jamaica wicketkeeper/batsman Jeffrey Dujon, Mike Haysman, the former South Australia batsman, and journalist Craig Cozier.
Umpires Billy Bowden, Nigel Duguid, Joel Wilson and Danesh Ramdhanie were also part of the panel.
SQUAD: Andre Fletcher (St Lucia Zouks), Chris Gayle (Jamaica Tallawahs, captain), Lendl Simmons (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Shoaib Malik (Barbados Tridents), James Franklin (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Andre Russell (Jamaica Tallawahs), Marlon Samuels (Antigua Hawksbills), Shakib Al Hasan (Barbados Tridents), Rayad Emrit (Barbados Tridents), Krishmar Santokie (Guyana Amazon Warriors), Muttiah Muralitharan (Jamaica Tallawahs) and 12th man: Ashley Nurse (Barbados Tridents). (EZS)