West Indies Invite Applications For Head Coach Role

Cricket West Indies has officially launched the search for a permanent head coach for the national side for their upcoming away tour against Afghanistan that begins in November. They recently named Kieron Pollard as the skipper of the team in limited-overs cricket. Now, the new head coach needs to work with two different captains for West Indies.

Much like Captaincy recruitment, the selection procedure follows a comprehensive review by CWI’s Selection Task Force system, which is applied for all roles in West Indies cricket. All the recommendations approved by the CWI Board of Directors at the quarterly meeting, held for the first time in Tobago on September 7 and 8.

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We will introduce new process – Cricket West Indies

Since Richard Pybus’ sacking in April, Floyd Reifer has been filling in as the caretaker boss, but Cricket West Indies is hopeful that they will have someone in place as permanent head coach before November when they take on Afghanistan.

A CWI statement said that the task force carried out a “four-month review” and “benchmarked cricket selection systems around the world and incorporated feedback and contributions from current and former players, coaches, administrators, franchise CEOs and nearly 2,700 fans across the Caribbean”.

“We will introduce new team-specific selection panels for the West Indies men’s and women’s and youth teams”, comprising “an executive selector (lead selector), a selector and head coach. The full-time selectors will be supported by a selection analyst to provide performance data to support selection considerations plus a minimum of three scouts to ensure cricketers throughout the region are closely watched and evaluated.

“A modernised, transparent selection policy will see players selected against six criteria: form and performance, fitness (based on a new approved fitness and conditioning policy), team balance, mental capacity, technical ability and commitment. The playing XIs will then be selected by the executive selector, head coach and captain.”

In a move aimed at improving West Indies’ standing in limited-overs cricket, Kieron Pollard has been appointed the captain of their white-ball teams with immediate effect. Pollard replaces Jason Holder as the ODI captain and Carlos Brathwaite in T20Is.

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It was the move taken after the poor show against the Indian National Cricket Team across the formats. The selectors asked Jason Holder to lead Test team but took away his ODI captaincy to hand to Pollard. It would be interesting to see how the new coach and the new skipper turn things for the West Indies.