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In an interview, when asked about his early days in cricket, Pollard says that it was pretty tough – “..I grew up in a single-parent home with just my mum. It was always going to be hard. We weren’t wealthy, and cricket was an expensive sport. We had to make a lot of sacrifices in order for me to play cricket.”
“It was pretty difficult for us as a family. I didn’t have full kit until I was 15 or 16. My mum bought me a second-hat bat when I was 13 and I had to use all the school’s gear when I was there. I wasn’t as fortunate as others.”
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Pollard expresses his happiness in growing up playing cricket in Trinidad – “Despite a lot of things being against me, it was exciting. What we all had as youngsters was Brian Lara to look up to. At that point, playing cricket, watching cricket and watching him was motivating enough. The West Indies had a great team. Carl Hooper, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh were all big heroes.”
When asked about the experience, going out to Haxey in Lincolnshire in 2006, as a 19-year-old being so far away from home, Pollard said that, “I had been on tour with the West Indies Under-19s, but this was my first real experience of leaving home for a long period of time. It was a challenge and I was living by myself for the first week. I didn’t like it and I told the club that it was pretty difficult for me. I moved in with the club captain and it was much better. I was supposed to be there five months but ended up leaving after five games to play in the Stanford 20/20.”
Pollard says that his lifestyle changed in England and it also brought a big change in cricketing conditions too.
“The cold, mainly. It was something new to me. I was wearing a lot of sweaters! I learned a lot in a small space of time there, about myself and about my cricket,” Pollard said.
He said that the day he made 83 off 38 balls to put Trinidad in the Stanford 20/20 final was a huge day for him – “It was a huge day for me, certainly. I was lucky I got the opportunity I did. Some of the other guys were away on a West Indies A tour in England, which meant I got my chance, and I took it.”
He shares his experience playing under the captaincy of Brain Lara, when he made his debut in the 2007 World Cup – “I was just coming out of first-class cricket, so getting an opportunity in a World Cup on television was just incredible. I didn’t have the greatest debut against South Africa, making just 10, and we lost. But Brian Lara was a great figure, and we still see each other and have conversations now.”
“I think it would be unfair for me to judge (Lara’s Captaincy). I was more in awe of him than anything else.”
Pollard also spoke about the T20 World Cup victory in 2012 – “The people of West Indies needed that and we as players needed that. Things hadn’t been going the way we wanted. T20 cricket, with the power-hitting and athletic fielding, was built for us. We had players who had played in the IPL with a lot of experience, and it all came together at the right time. It was not down to one individual, it was down to us as a team. People can say it was Marlon Samuels‘ knock in the final that won it, but we still had to hold Sri Lanka to less than 137. Each and every game someone different put their hand up.”
Even if everyone says Pollard is a T20 specialist, he has different views to it – “Of course not. Everybody says I’m big and strong and suited to it, but when you look at cricket, the game is changing so much. A few years ago they said David Warner was a T20 specialist but look what he has achieved in Test cricket. Think back to why I was called up in the first place to the West Indies side too. It was because I made centuries in four-day cricket. I’m not a specialist.”
When asked about the future cricket plans – “I don’t want to let everyone know what I want to achieve. I like to tick the boxes quietly and keep myself to myself. But I’ll give you one – to play Test cricket for West Indies.”
“I don’t know how close I am to have a Test call-up. I might be a way off – I don’t know. I’m highly unlikely to play a full season of first-class cricket, so my only way of playing is by performing well in the ODIs. I could be wrong but that’s the way I think I can do it. The way the fixtures are made up make it hard. I played two games last season and the year before, I played one.”
Pollard said about the Atlantic Pollard Scholarship, which gives opportunities for youngsters in Trinidad – “I want to help take talented young Trinidadian cricketers to the next level. The game of cricket has already given me so much. I feel it only right that I give something back. It gives some of the best young guys a chance to come over to play club cricket in England and learn more about themselves and their game. They get opportunities that they might not have had before. We’ve had Akeal Hosein and Savion Lara – Brian’s cousin – playing at Barnes and Purley respectively last season. They get opportunities that they might not have had before. We will shortly announce our two new scholars to play at Purley CC and Barnes CC in 2014.”
Pollard about his knee injury – “It’s getting there. I’m doing a lot of work in London to sort it but I don’t want to rush back. It’s six hours a day at the moment. I’m a sportsman and I want to be playing, I want to be on the park. I have, thank god. This is my first major injury in cricket, and I wasn’t even playing at the time. It happened in a charity football match and I made a bad turn while I was dribbling. Playing football is what we do and everything happens for a reason. I love my football. I’m a big Manchester United fan and went to watch them play Chelsea on Sunday. Unfortunately we lost, but it was a great experience going to the game.”
