Roger Harper, CWI chief selector and former Kenya coach. Associated Press / Matt Dunham, fi le
By Azad Ali
Cricket West Indies President, Ricky
Skerritt has lashed back at critics who
have said he is going back on a pledge
to hire local coaches to help West Indies
back to winning ways.
Since taking over the presidency of
Dave Cameron, Skerrit who had said
during his campaign that foreign
coaches do not have the connection to
the players that local ones do and that
his administration would be providing
opportunities for coaches from the
region to contribute to team building,
has since hired three overseas coaches.
Skerritt’s administration has overseen
the hiring of Education Manager,
Chris Brabazon from Australia, Batting
Coach, Monty Desi from India,
and Fielding Coach Trevor Penney from
Zimbabwe.
But according to Skerritt, his administration
has been forced to look overseas
Caribbean L 46 ife, January 17-23, 2020
because of the paucity of expertise
in the region and that his campaign did
not mean he would not hire any international
coaches.
He said there is no reverse at all,
adding, that he did not say “we would
hire West Indian coaches only. I say we
would adopt a West Indian-first policy,
whereby, we would look at the individuals
we have in the region and if we
cannot find the respective talent to fill
those roles, then we would have to go
overseas to do so.”
According to Skerritt, not having the
requisite expertise at the moment did
not mean the Caribbean would never
have these types of persons because
one of the jobs of each of the persons
contracted is to coach the coaches in
the region.
He said in a week’s time head coach
Phil Simmons, as well as CEO, Johnny
Grave, will meet to further the discussion
Ricky Skerritt is the new president of
Cricket West Indies.
Cricket West Indies
on coaching as “we look to develop
our game soon.”
West Indies
Continued from Page 45
home since beating Bangladesh back
in 2014.
Set a modest target of 197 off 47 balls
after rain interrupted play in their pursuit
of 203, the regional team encountered
little issues as they coasted home
in the 38 overs.
Opener Evin Lewis who was left
stranded on 99 when West Indies won
the opening game last Tuesday in Barbados,
made amends with a superb 102 off
97 balls, while fellow left-hander Nicholas
Pooran finished unbeaten on 43
from 44 balls, Brandon King (43 balls),
as West Indies recovered from cheap
dismissals of Shai Hope (6) and Sunil
Ambris (6) to complete their second
series whitewash inside three months.
Off-spinner Hayden Walsh Jr had earlier
snatched four for 36 as Ireland once
again failed to post a challenging total
and were dismissed for 203.
In the second game Ireland came
close to winning the nail-biting match
as tail-enders Sheldon Cottrell gave
West Indies a one wicket win in the
50th over.
Cottrell, who survived a run out to
an effort from off-spinner Mark Adair,
struck a six to give the Kieron Pollard
side a win with one ball to spare.
mats.
Mitchell, a former chairman of
CARICOM’s Prime Ministerial subcommittee
on cricket said: “We have
some talented players, the Poorans,
Hetmyers and so on. I’m not sure that
the right thing is to play these young
people in all formats of the game at
this point in time.”
“You have talent in Pooran and
Hetmyer — these guys on the 50-over
and on the Test team, we’d be molding
these guys. But when a guy gets used
to sixes and sixes and hitting the ball
in the air in the 20-over game, which
they must do, I think the mindset if
they’re not well-developed yet…you
can be spoiling a talent that there for
the (longest) version of the game and
the 50-overs game, “ he said.
Mitchell said while there was obvious
development taking place in the
shorter formats, the Test format still
required attention.
“We have three formats of the
game in cricket and I’ve giving my
own personal opinion as some who
watched the game a lot and is interest,”
Mitchell added.
West Indies ranked eighth in Tests,
ninth in ODIs and l0th in Twenty20s,
face a difficult year ahead which
includes the defense of their T20
World Cup title in Australia.
bowling stocks, while also serving as a
mentor for the younger players.
He said Bravo was recalled with the
specific intention of bolstering the
‘death’ bowling, which was identified
as an area that needs improving.
“His record in this department
speaks for itself. He will also be able
to act as a mentor to the other ‘death’
bowlers and lend his experience wherever,”
Harper said.
Bravo, is a former one-day captain,
having led the regional team for l9
months before being sacked in 2014
following his central role in a pay
dispute with the former Cricket West
Indies board, which led to the controversial
abandoned tour.
He remained part of the Twenty20
team, however, and was part of the
squad, which captured West Indies’
second Twenty20 World title in India
in April 2016.
Continued from Page 45
Continued from Page 45
BRAVO RECALLED TO WINDIES TEAM
Young WI
talent
Skerritt comes under fire
for hiring foreign coaches