Pollard to Guyanese journalist: ‘Support us; don’t question every time’
By Avenash Ramzan
The quest of a Guyanese journalist to get clarity on West Indies selection matters was met by a forthright Kieron Pollard on Tuesday, with the West Indies T20 captain calling for support, rather than constant questioning from the media.
West Indies are set to defend the World T20 title- the global event starts on October 17- but the composition of the squad and travelling reserve has come in for much scrutiny over the past few weeks.
Guyana Times/TVG sport journalist Brandon Corlette questioned the selection of Pollard’s countryman Darren Bravo in the list of reserves, given the left-hander has not enjoyed the best of form in recent times.
“Mr. Brandon Corlette, with all due respect, how come all these questions you have is always about the selection of the team at every given time?” Pollard immediately responded.
Corlette proceeded to highlight Bravo’s recent stats in international cricket and the Hero Caribbean Premier League, to which Pollard pointed out that the Chairman of Selectors Roger Harper “would have given clarity on each and every individual, how they made the 15-man squad. I think for me to go on that, nothing is going to change, and by me trying to give you clarity on that, the 15-man squad is still not going to change.”
Bravo made 98 runs in CPL 2021 at an average of 16.3 and a highest score of 25, while his last five T20 scores for West Indies read 2, 28, 0, 4 and 5, dating back to December 2018.
Pollard then went on to address the journalist directly: “I’m personally speaking to you at this point in time; every time you have to ask a question it’s all about an individual or individuals as to why they have been selected.”
“I believe sometimes as a Caribbean person/journalist, at times you need to sometimes try to support us as cricketers and give us that positivity rather than each and every time question selection of an individual on a team, be it Darren Bravo, Jason Mohammed or why Hetmyer is not playing. That has been the train of your questions ever since. I do not have clarity on that, you can ask somebody else that question.”
Corlette said all he wanted was clarity on Bravo’s selection, as Chairman Harper and West Indies Head Coach Phil Simmons, in his opinion, did not provide such at previous media engagements.