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 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 on coaching as “we look to develop our game soon.”
