By David Harris
The appointment of former West Indies captain Daren Sammy to the position of head coach of the West Indies’ One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 (T20I) teams is a bold step and an attempt to think outside of the box by Cricket West Indies ( CWI) says veteran cricket commentator Joseph “Reds” Perreira.
Last month, CWI surprisingly named Sammy as head coach of the white ball teams, despite his lack of coaching qualifications.
And while there was widespread criticism about his appointment, Perreira said Sammy’s motivational skills would have played a big role in his hiring.
“Sammy acquired a reputation as a motivator when he captained the West Indies team and has a personality that attracts people to him. I think CWI is hoping that Sammy will be able to use his skill as a motivator and his personality to get the cricketers to work hard and start the process that will turn West Indies around during his tenure as coach”, he told Barbados TODAY.
But Perreira admitted that the selection process was not as transparent as it could have been.
“In my opinion, the appointments were done mainly by members of the board, who I don’t believe were technically qualified enough to recommend the most suitable applicants for the posts. The appointment of the head coach is a cricket matter and the persons involved in the process should have the background and the knowledge of the requirements of a coach”, Perreria said.
“I thought it would have been better and more transparent to have an independent committee with people of the caliber of Otis Gibson, Micky Arthur, Brian Lara, and Sir Clive Lloyd to join (Jimmy) Adams and Enoch Lewis to examine the applications and make a recommendation on the best applicant for the post.”
He also admitted that he was not in support of former interim head coach Floyd Reifer being named to the backroom staff of the regional white-ball teams.
“There is no need for Reifer and Carl Hooper to serve as assistant coaches at the same time. Hooper can handle all of the areas related to batting, whether it involves pace or spin. Therefore, Reifer is not needed at this time because he and Hooper are performing similar roles”, he explained.
Instead, Perreira suggested that bowling coach James Franklin should have been given more assistance in that department.
“The bowlers have been struggling with their consistency and fitness, they are still finding it difficult to bowl on the channel outside of the off-stump and to the field. The bowling coach should have been given additional assistance to help him bring the bowlers up to scratch.
“They could have appointed Corey Collymore or Esuan Crandon to help Franklin with the bowlers,” Perreira said.
With regards to the Test side, Perreira admitted that he was not in favour of the appointment of Stuart William, the former Leeward Islands and West Indies opener, as the batting coach.
He contended that Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who also applied for the white ball head coaching position, was a better option.
“Chanderpaul should have been the batting coach in place of Williams. Last year, Chanderpaul had an impressive stint as head coach of the Jamaica Tallawahs, coaching them to victory in the Caribbean Premier League. Chanderpaul gave up the position of head coach of the United States senior Women’s and Under-19 teams so he was available for the job. He should have gone to South Africa as the batting coach,” the senior commentator said.
Perreira said former West Indian fast bowling great Sir Curtley Ambrose should also have been named as bowling coach of the Test side ahead of Kenny Benjamin.
