In The Telegraph, Tim Wigmore looked at the current form of Kieron Pollard, one of T20’s most destructive batsmen
In the latest edition of Tim Wigmore weekly Cricket Nerd newsletter, the remarkable form of Kieron Pollard was analysed as the 33-year-old is enjoying one of his the fruitful periods of his career. Wigmore noted that, while Pollard has always scored quickly, it has been the case since 2019 that his average has increased as well, leading to longer, more impactful innings as a result.
Wigmore also pointed out that a large part of that improvement was down to the increase in his performance against leg-spin. He writes, “From 2015-18, Pollard averaged 28 against leg spin, scoring at 7.8 an over; since 2019, he is averaging 54 against leg spin, scoring at 9.9 an over.”
Finally, Wigmore highlighted the fact that Pollard has broken the mould in terms of what constitutes ‘smart cricket’ in today’s supercharged world of T20. No longer is taking a single after hitting a boundary necessarily the best option, as Wigmore explains,
“One feature of Pollard is how he mocks the conventional wisdom that taking a single the ball after hitting a boundary is “smart cricket”. To Pollard, smart cricket is doubling down when a match-up is in your favour. This helps explain the extraordinary efficiency of Pollard’s aggression, which is now soaring new heights. From 2015-18, he scored at 12.4 an over with attacking shots, according to CricViz, which has risen to 13.8 an over since 2019.”
Read the full article here.
