Pollock aims to seize his opportunity

ED Pollock intends to build on his spectacular start for the Birmingham Bears in T20 cricket in 2017 and push hard for a first-team place in all formats next year.

Pollock blazed to prominence in the NatWest T20 Blast last season. Given his chance at the top of the order, he responded with 293 runs at an average of 31.44 and a blistering strike-rate of 174.69 – higher than even that of Colin de Grandhomme, who joined the Bears with the best T20 strike-rate in the world.

It was eye-catching stuff from the 22-year-old, who is wintering in Australia playing club cricket in Perth.

Now he knows the challenge is to back up that first impression with another strong showing in T20 in 2018 – and force his way into contention in 50-over and four-day cricket for Warwickshire.

“I was pleased how it went last season but I know I have a lot to learn,” Pollock said. “When my chance came in T20 I just hit loads of balls in practice and looked at the best to see how they approached it. People said I was fearless but if I don’t free up like that it doesn’t work.

“It went well for me but after the T20s I struggled to get back into form in red-ball cricket and that’s the challenge. The next step for me is to play 50-over cricket but I want to play in the championship too and the way to do that is to score big runs – 150s and 200s – for the 2nd team.

“I know if I do that my chance will come because I saw Matt Lamb do it last season when he forced his way into the first team with runs for the 2nds. At Warwickshire you know they will give young players a chance.

“The winter over here in Australia will be great preparation for me. I can do everything out here that I would be doing at home but with match cricket as well. We play red-ball games over successive Saturdays and also some 50-over and T20.

“It’s a good standard, a bit like the Birmingham League, but whereas there you might play against county players for the opposition, out here you can find yourself up against Test players too.”

Bears fans will be fascinated next year to see if Pollock can translate his buccaneering T20 style into runs in the very different environment of championship cricket. If so, Warwickshire have an enormous asset on their hands but it is not an easy transition with the demands of the formats so different.

“It’s not as simple as just having a different mindset,” Pollock said. “The ball comes at you too quickly to think ‘am I going to hit it or not?’ because you are wired to play a certain way in each format.

“It’s instinctive so you have to retrain your instincts and that’s not easy. But the best players do it.”