BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – West Indies off-spinner Ashley Nurse expects the captaincy of Kieron Pollard to once again play a pivotal role in Barbados Tridents’ upcoming Caribbean Premier League campaign, and believes the squad is strong enough to challenge for the title.
The 27-year-old lauded Pollard’s leadership over the last three seasons and said his aggression and keen understanding of the game were qualities that were invaluable to Tridents.
“He is a very good leader. He is very proactive. He doesn’t wait on things to happen, he tries to make things happen all the time and put the batsmen under pressure,” Nurse said.
“He knows the game well as he’s played a lot of T20 cricket around the world so he’s very experienced and it’s nice to play with him.”
Pollard has led Tridents from the inaugural year of the CPL in 2013 and oversaw their maiden capture of the title in 2014, when they beat Guyana Amazon Warriors in a tense rain-affected final at Warner Park in St Kitts.
This year, the Trinidadian all-rounder will lead a side including the likes of South Africa star AB de Villiers and Pakistani Shoaib Malik, along with the South African trio of David Wiese, Robin Peterson and Wayne Parnell.
Pollard and Nurse tops the list of West Indies players with fast bowler Ravi Rampaul and Kyle Hope also included.
“I’m very excited to be part of Tridents again. Looking at the future, I think it’s going to be good tournament again,” said Nurse, who was part of the successful West Indies squad at the recent T20 World Cup in India.
“We have some big names in the side this time so hopefully the Caribbean players can gel together and perform to the best of our ability, so we can support he overseas pros.”
He added: “Mingling with the international players [has been good]. I’ve had some experience playing international cricket but it’s nice to be in a franchise team with international players such as Shoaib Malik and Kieron Pollard.
“Those guys really show you the way as a youngster and it’s nice to contribute to the team’s success.”
The capture of de Villiers has been a huge boost for Tridents, especially since they have lost the likes of T20 opener Dwayne Smith, Jonathan Carter and Rayad Emrit.
And Nurse said he intended to glean all he could from de Villiers in order to further develop his own game.
“Obviously it’s going to be a great experience for me. I’ll try to be around him for most of the time, try to pick his brain and try to get some of his expertise and help my game along the way and try to get some advice from those calibre of players.”
The CPL is expected to run from June 29 to August 7.
