Kieran Powell is a powerful left-hand opening batsman who began playing cricket when he was eight. Both he and his brother, Alan, have represented the Leewards Islands at the Under-15 and U-19 level while Kieran went on to break into the West Indies' U-19 squad. He played for Nevis in the 2006 Stanford 20/20 and brought his attacking game to the 2008 U-19 World Cup in Malaysia and entertained with his aggressive stroke-play, which brought him 253 runs at a strike-rate of 124. He was part of a depleted West Indies ODI side for the home series against Bangladesh the following year, but was dismissed for a golden duck on debut. In the 2011 season, he was included in the Test squad against India, replacing the out-of-form Ramnaresh Sarwan. Powell continued to be in and out of the national team for two years before a string of poor scores culminated in him being dropped after the Kingston Test against New Zealand in June 2014. In February-March 2015, Powell represented Sri Lanka's Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club in Sri Lanka's first-class league.

In January 2015, Powell issued a statement saying that mixed signals from West Indies cricket authorities had left him "deflated and confused" as he attempted to return to international cricket after a self-imposed break for the game. This resulted in his decision to step away from the game for some time. In January 2016, he tried his hand at baseball, without much success.

Two years after his exit from the sport, Powell returned to cricket in early 2016, turning up for Leeward Islands in the domestic 50-over tournament, where he made over 500 runs at an average of 64.12 and returned to West Indies' ODI team for the three-match series against England in February 2017. He scored only 16 runs in those matches, but continued to be part of the limited-overs team for the series against Pakistan and Afghanistan. In April 2017, Powell was recalled to the Test side against Pakistan. He nmade three 30-plus scores in that tour, and in July that year Powell was selected for the Test squad for the tour of England.
ESPNcricinfo staff