. World News – AU – Pollard, Pooran land one day before Jan.. T20 – Trinidad and Tobago Newsday in Auckland

WEST INDIES (WI) T20 International (T20I) skipper Kieron Pollard and vice-captain Nicholas Pooran meet in Auckland on Wednesday one day before the three-game series against New Zealand.

After 14 days of quarantine in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch, Pollard, Pooran, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Keemo Paul and Shimron Hetmyer have little time to acclimate as the opening game starts on Friday.

For the past two weeks, the six cricketers have worked with WI assistant coach Trevor Penny, while coach Phil Simmons has spent most of the time in Queenstown with the test team. Simmons arrived in Auckland on Tuesday.

They have all recently returned from their positions in the Indian Premier League (IPL) where Pollard’s Mumbai Indians were crowned champions.

Although both WI teams are in different locations, Simmons has credited his coaches with overcoming these challenges and still being able to lead both teams without major problems.

According to him, the preparation was not ideal, but the players and coaching staff have consistently exceeded expectations.

“The Christchurch group did a lot of hard work with Trevor Penny. It is a group of IPL players who know what it is like to be prepared for a series / tournament. That made this group a little more committed and it helps me a little to rest that everything is done there, ”he said on Tuesday before their departure for Auckland.

These six players will compete with their T20I teammates Andre Fletcher, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Hayden Walsh Jr. , Kesrick Williams and Romario Shepherd merge. Shepherd replaced T20 specialist Dwayne Bravo after suffering a groin injury at the 2020 IPL.

Although the T20I team was unable to compete in training matches as a full squad, Simmons is confident that his unit has what it takes to fight a valiant battle against the mighty Black Caps. The majority of the players were also involved in the Caribbean Premier League in July / August, in which Pollard also led the Trinbago Knight Riders to victory.

Of the last seven T20Is played between the pair in New Zealand, the hosts have won six. In total, the two teams played against each other 13 times in T20, with the Kiwis having a narrow lead of seven to five.

The trainer is in Auckland with assistant trainers Penny and Andre Coley, while colleagues Roddy Estwick, Monty Dessai and Rayon Griffith are on the test team.

The former WI cricketer also agreed with Fletcher’s recent remarks, which described the team’s ninth place in the International Cricket Council’s T20I ranking as « unbalanced ». .

The men in maroon have won the T20 World Cup twice (2012 and 2016) but struggled to maintain consistency in the shortest format.

Simmons concluded, “I think imbalance might be the right word. It is disappointing to look at the table and see where we are. We know we are better on paper. We have to make sure we win series after series to get to the top and be number one where we were years ago. ”

WI T20I SQUAD – Kieron Pollard (captain), Nicholas Pooran (vice captain), Fabian Allen, Romario Shepherd, Sheldon Cottrell, Andre Fletcher, Shimron Hetmyer, Brandon King, Kyle Mayers, Rovman Powell, Keemo Paul, Oshane Thomas, Hayden Walsh Jr. , Kesrick Williams

Kieron Pollard, Twenty20, West Indies Cricket Team, Cricket, Nicholas Pooran, Trinbago Knight Riders