…Pollard calls for regional T20 tournament

WEST Indies white ball Captain and Skipper of the Barbados Royals, Rovman Powell feels that it is important for the development of West Indies Cricket to play the emerging players as much as possible.
“It’s important when we play CPL cricket there is a development of West Indies cricket component that comes with it. The emerging players have to be allowed to develop, for those young players to come through and not only to be seen by West Indians but also by the global franchises around the world,” the West Indies captain was quoted as saying during a CPL media conference on Monday.

“Those young players need to get the opportunity because when I was young I got the chance to play and with that opportunity, I am where I am now…It’s a key component,” Powell stated.
Former West Indies white ball skipper and leader of four-time champions Trinbago Knight Riders Kieron Pollard also felt it important to mould the next generation to take over from the seniors.
“I am all about giving opportunities, from a T20 perspective this is the only time these guys will have the opportunity to be seen. We don’t have a local T20 tournament that we have been speaking about for the past how many years. When you look around the world each country has a domestic T20 tournament where you can unearth the young talent also,” Pollard said.

The TKR Captain continued, “In different teams in different cases, the emerging players only play because they have to play… and that is not what you want. You have to find the right balance and they must earn the right to play and understand the magnitude of what they are playing for. Come playoff time, most likely you are not going to make the X1 and you will go back still not having the experience of playing at the high intensity and high level you want to play at.”
According to Pollard, a look from the West Indian perspective leaves a lot of be desired regarding the next batch of cricketers.

“And when you look at it from a West Indian perspective and when you look at the next bunch of cricketers coming out of the Caribbean it leaves a lot to be desired. It’s not for us to make that decision but for the decision-makers to sit down and understand where you want to take cricket in the Caribbean,” the former Mumbai Indians captain stated.

He noted that, “It is a discussion that we have been having for a long time and we are still stagnant. We have to sit down and make decisions but we are afraid to make decisions because of the repercussions of the media, the public and whatever.
The best interest must be West Indies cricket because that is what all the other major cricketing countries do. They use their domestic competition to produce their next batch of players for their country.”
Look at countries like India, Australia, England and South Africa, they are way ahead of us in terms of developing their players while we are still in the doldrums fighting each other” the experienced all-rounder lamented.