West Indian captain Kieron Pollard has urged his teammates to keep fit and not let complacency creep in. time for the scenario to change.
“It’s a problem that has plagued us in recent years. One way to look at it is, the roster policy, the fitness policy is there. Guys know exactly what it takes to represent the West Indian team. Sometimes As individuals we take it Take it for granted. Yes, sometimes it hinders the process of selecting the best players in the given time available,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Pollard as saying.
“Things that happened during the pandemic – safety reasons – all played a factor. But fitness is an issue that has affected us in terms of trying to put our best team and sometimes it’s frustrating because you don’t get the guys fit and available to the team represent,” he added.
Pollard has recovered from a hamstring injury and has been sidelined for four to six weeks. Before the series against Ireland, lefthanded batter Shimron Hetmyer was dropped because he was unable to maintain his fitness level.
“I will also say it’s an individual thing, they should be proud of being fit, performing and doing what it takes for the team. If these things tend to happen as individuals, I’m sure of that it doesn’t bode well for us too. Again, this is something that I take very personally – fitness – and I can’t participate because of an injury – because that’s not going well with myself. That’s why I had the chance to to go and recover and hopefully ,,I can stay with the team because I’m proud of that,” said Pollard.
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“For me, as an individual, all I can do is try to get the guys to see the importance of fitness,” Pollard said. “When we’re on tour I can safely say it’s not a problem when the guys have to do their thing in terms of what’s needed for the team and when they have to train on schedules. We tend to have these conversations, but I think the hardest part is when the guys leave the tour with responsibilities and with instructions and sometimes they don’t follow through. And then they come back on tour and start from ground zero,” he added.
The West Indies and Ireland will compete in three ODIs and one T20I. The first ODI will be played Saturday night in Sabina Park, Jamaica.
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