(ESPNCRICINFO) – KIERON POLLARD has described West Indies’ failure to make the Super 12s of the 2022 T20 World Cup as a “sad day” for Caribbean cricket. The former captain, who retired in April, said he was both surprised and disappointed at West Indies’ exit and agreed that head coach Phil Simmons will now come under pressure to keep his job. Pollard, however, stressed that the blame had to be shared by all stakeholders and not any individual.

“A bit surprised, to be honest that [West Indies] weren’t able to get over the line against the other teams,” he told i95.5fm, a Trinidad-based radio station last weekend. “But again, that speaks volumes of where our cricket is at the moment. I feel it. I feel it for the guys because they are the ones that are going to get the bashing. And it’s not all their fault.”

Having already failed to secure direct entry into the Super 12s (permitted to the top eight-ranked teams at a pre-determined cut-off date as well as the hosts Australia), Nicholas Pooran’s team struggled badly in the first round, notching a solitary win, against Zimbabwe, while losing to Scotland and Ireland which forced them out of the tournament.

The shocking exit invited derision both at home and abroad. Cricket West Indies president, Ricky Skerritt, issued a scathing statement saying a “post-mortem” would be carried out immediately, while former Australia captain Ricky Ponting described the team’s performance as a “disgrace.”

Pollard, though, was not interested in hauling up Pooran and his men. Instead he highlighted a wider point, especially on selections, which he said played a part in their dismal showing at the 2021 T20 World Cup as well, where he was the captain. West Indies crashed out of that competition with a solitary win alongside four defeats.

“We have a young captain, we have young players, guys who would have played only a handful of [matches in] T20 cricket and now they are in the World Cup,” Pollard said. “And when I look back at it, I sit back and I have a smile on my face. Because I remember some of the things that were said last year around this time, when some individuals weren’t selected.

“I just had to remind these people that there was a World Cup we were going to [in 2021] and another bilateral series [in New Zealand]. And now some of the individuals get the opportunity to play in the World Cup. And, again, look what has happened. It’s no fault of theirs. But when we tried to sort of protect them and let people understand [in 2021], they were not ready for that, we were lambasted. There were a lot of things that were said that were very derogatory at times. It’s a sad day for West Indies cricket and all of us.”

Just like last year’s World Cup, West Indies’ selections became a big talking point. The Desmond Haynes-led panel named a 15-member squad that did not feature the two best T20 players in the Caribbean: Andre Russell and Sunil Narine. At the time, Haynes explained this decision by saying Russell was not performing the way they would like and Narine appeared disinterested in playing for West Indies.

The CWI then dropped Shimron Hetmyer for failing to get on a rescheduled flight to Australia. Only two players, Pooran and Evin Lewis, were part of the original 15-member squads in both 2021 and 2022. Along with Rovman Powell, they were the only three with at least 50 T20Is under their belt. Jason Holder has 49, and is a former captain and a World Cup winner. After that, West Indies were struggling for experienced campaigners. This was in contrast to the 2021 squad which featured Pollard, Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Russell and Lendl Simmons.

“Experience means a lot. And we take that for granted in the Caribbean,” Pollard said. “[There] has been a notion over the years [that] as soon as you reach a certain age, you should be done away with. And when you have guys in the team, they want you to get out of the team or when the guys are not there, they understand the importance of the guys. And this is another situation of not having couple of experienced guys around to help the youngsters, to help the youth.”

Haynes had pointed out that form in the 2022 CPL would play a key role in the World Cup squad selection. Pollard said that while that was fine, other parameters needed to be considered.