Wrong strategy

Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd has lamented the snubbing of fellow West Indies icon, Desmond Haynes, for the post of men’s head coach, and said it was unfortunate that great former players continued to be ignored by Cricket West Indies (CWI) for the position.

Speaking in the wake of the controversial appointment of Englishman Richard Pybus, Lloyd said CWI had tried foreign coaches over the years without much success and needed to tap into the talents of homegrown stars.

Clive Lloyd says there is no proper planning in West Indies cricket.

“I heard about it (the appointment of Pybus) but I thought they were quite a few names put forward and I think somebody had said that Desmond was one of those names,” Lloyd told the popular cricket radio show, Mason and Guests, last night.

“What I would like to see in the future of our cricket that people like Gordon Greenidge, who has coached all over the place, and Desmond Haynes [given a chance]. These guys know about cricket and our cricketers and they are not getting a chance to show what talents they have, and I think it is about time we start to do something of that nature.”

He added: “We’ve tried a lot of overseas coaches and we’re still at number eight [in Tests] and number nine [in one-dayers].”

Haynes was one of several regional coaches identified by the director of cricket, Jimmy Adams, to fill the post left vacant by the resignation of Australian Stuart Law.

The 62-year-old Barbadian, who played 116 Tests and 238 ODIs, worked with the Windies side as a batting consultant eight years ago in a short stint.

However, he was overlooked for the vacant head coach position in favour of South African Nic Pothas, who had also been shortlisted, before Pybus – who was not among the shortlisted group – was controversially approved by CWI.

Well-respected CWI director, Enoch Lewis, lambasted the decision to appoint Pybus, accusing president Dave Cameron of “hand-picking” the high-performance director, when he had not even applied for the position.

Lloyd, a former Windies manager and chief selector, said West Indies cricket was suffering from a lack of strategic planning.

“I think what should happen is that we should have 12 or 14 people discussing West Indies cricket and how we can take it forward,” said the Guyanese, credited for moulding the great Caribbean sides of the late 1970s and 80s.

“Australia had a problem and what did they do? They took about four, five of their successful captains, they sat down and they tried to get it sorted out. India did the same thing and I think it is about time [we did the same].

“We ruled the world for 18 years or more … we played 29 Test matches without losing. We have a lot going for us, we cannot sit back and just hope for the best. We have to put things in place so that our cricket can go forward. That is what I would like to see.

“We have some very good players – make no bones about that – but we have to get them playing together.”

West Indies are preparing to take on England in a full series of three Tests, five One-Day Internationals and three Twenty20 Internationals in the Caribbean.

The opening Test bowls off at Kensington Oval on January 23.