HARD-HITTING?Trinidadian Kieron Pollard says he is much more than a one-day player and is good enough to bat at No. 6 in Test cricket.
Pollard, who had a brief stopover in Barbados, told MIDWEEK?SPORT that it was still his dream to play Test cricket.
“I have batted at six in one-day cricket and I have batted at five and six for Trinidad and?Tobago in first-class cricket, so it wouldn’t be anything new to me.
“I?am good enough to bat at six in any kind of cricket. Test cricket is cricket that I can adapt to. To me cricket is cricket: bat versus ball. The same basic things apply: you watch a ball and see what it is doing. It is nothing different,” he said.
Just last month, former West Indies opening batsman Desmond Haynes, who has the experience of 116 Tests, said he would like to see Pollard fill the critical No. 6 batting slot for the West Indies.
“I think he has the temperament to play Test cricket. He is a good enough player to be given the chance,” Haynes said.
Pollard, who turned 27 a few weeks ago, has a first-class average of 38 with four hundreds.
“When I look at some of the players in recent times who have been chosen to bat at No. 6, his average is better than some of them.
“He is a solid player who can contribute. I think he would be an asset to new skipper Denesh Ramdin and the team as a whole,” Haynes said.
“We worked closely together for the Barbados Tridents last year in the Caribbean Premier League, and I like what I saw as a batsman and a leader.”
Pollard said he respects the demands of Test cricket and feels he has the temperament to grind it out in the five-day format.
“I have heard the talk about what is required but the only way you can know if someone is up to any kind of challenge, is if you give them the opportunity to do it.
“Each and every player wants to play Test cricket. No matter what. I am no different. When you are growing up, that is uppermost in your mind as a cricketer.
“I have played T20 and I have played One-day Internationals and Test cricket would be the next step. My goal is to play Test cricket for the West Indies. If it is to happen, it will; if not, I will look back at it and say it wasn’t meant to be.”
It doesn’t seem the West Indies plan to turn to Pollard or compatriot Lendl Simmons anytime soon to fill one of those middle-order slots in the brittle batting line-up.
Marlon Samuels, with ten failures in his last 11 innings, has been dropped, but still there has been no inkling that the selectors want Pollard or the equally dashing Simmons. Both men seemed to have been tagged as one-day specialists.
“I am a cricketer. I can play any form, but I am not going to lose any sleep if I don’t play Test cricket. I have a family and in the meantime I have to make a living,”?Pollard said.
