T20 World Cup: England have roped in former West Indies captain Kieron Pollard in their coaching set-up to defend their title in next year’s Men’s T20 World Cup, to be held in the Caribbean and USA from June 4-30.
As per a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Pollard, 36, will specifically join the team as an assistant coach for the tournament and provide expertise about local conditions to the side captained by Jos Buttler and coached by Matthew Mott.
Pollard had also shared the dressing room with Buttler in Somerset during 2010-11 seasons and at Mumbai Indians in the 2016-17 seasons with the Indian Premier League (IPL). Pollard had won the 2012 Men’s T20 World Cup title, while playing 101 matches internationally in the format.
He still plays in some franchise T20 leagues as a player, and had captained Trinbago Knight Riders to the final of this year’s Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Pollard has vast experience of excelling in the format having played 637 matches, and has won five IPL titles with Mumbai Indians franchise, where he now serves as the batting coach.
England had earlier roped in former Australia batter Mike Hussey as a consultant for the 2022 Men’s T20 World Cup campaign, where they went all the way to lift the trophy. During England’s woeful ODI World Cup defence in India, where they failed to reach the semi-finals, they did not hire any former cricketer from the country as a consultant.
Rob Key, the England men’s managing director, later blamed himself for not appointing such a figure for the mega event. The 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup will be the ninth edition of the tournament and will see 20 teams participate in the mega event.
The 20 teams will be divided into four groups of five each for the first round. Top two teams from each group will qualify for the Super Eight stage. In Super Eight, teams will be split into two groups of four each, with top two sides from two groups entering the semi-finals.
Hosts West Indies and USA, as well as Australia, defending champions England, India, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh have already qualified for the competition.
Ireland, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Canada, Nepal, Oman, Namibia and Uganda will participate in the tournament after earning qualifications via their respective regional qualifying tournaments.
Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Broward County in Lauderhill, Florida and Nassau County in New York were confirmed to be the venues in the United States of America (USA) leg of the tournament.
In the Caribbean, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago will be the hosts for the games’, with Dominica pulling out as a competition venue due to inability to complete work on the stadium in time.