Former head coach Phil Simmons, batting legend Desmond Haynes and current interim coach Floyd Reifer have been short-listed to be the next full-time head coach of the West Indies.
Cricket West Indies said on Wednesday that Simmons, Haynes and Reifer emerged from a list of six candidates that took part in the initial interview process which concluded on Monday. There will now be a final round of interviews to be completed by Oct. 11.
A CWI panel comprising Dr. Kishore Shallow, who is chairman of the CWI’s human resource committee, CWI director of cricket, Jimmy Adams, Debra Coryat-Patton and England-based coaching educator, Gordon Lord conducted interviews with the three former West Indies players and other candidates.
Simmons, a former West Indies opener, was head coach for close to two years which time West Indies won the World Twenty20 title in 2016, However, he was fired in September 2016 following differences with the leadership of CWI — but was scooped up by Afghanistan and guided the side to the 2019 World Cup in England.
Haynes, a former West Indies captain and was half of the opening partnership in the history of the international game with Gordon Greenidge had previously expressed interest in the position.
He also held the post of batting consultant briefly when Ottis Gibson was head coach.
Haynes brings the wealth of experience in his playing career in which he scored 7,487 runs in 116 Tests and 8,648 runs in 258 One-Day Internationals (ODI) between l978 and 1994.
Reifer was appointed interim coach when Ricky Skeritt took over as CWI president in March this year.
