Prolific T20 cricketer and former West Indies captain, Kieron Pollard, has been appointed England’s assistant coach for the Men’s T20 World Cup, which will be played in the West Indies and the United States next year

His sole assignment is “to provide expertise of local conditions”. Pollard has represented West Indies in 101 T20s and was part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in 2012.

He also captained the Windies side in the T20 World Cup 2021 edition, retiring from international cricket last year but is still active in the franchise-league circuit.

Pollard recently captained New York Strikers to victory in the Abu Dhabi T10 League and Trinbago Knight Riders to the final of CPL 2023. He leads MI Emirates in the ILT20 and is Mumbai Indians’ batting coach in the IPL.

England go into the tournament as defending champions but are coming off of a disastrous ODI World Cup defence in India, where they lost six of their nine games and just about managed to qualify for the Champions Trophy in 2025.

The upcoming edition of the World Cup will be played from June 4 to 30 across seven Caribbean and three American venues. For the first time, 20 teams will feature in the T20 World Cup.

They are: Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United States of America (USA) and West Indies.