ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, CMC – Former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd will be the convenor of newly-constituted West Indies selection panel.
The West Indies Cricket Board announced Saturday that it had appointed Lloyd to head the panel, after it chose not to renew the contracts of two members of the current panel.
Lloyd will be joined on the panel by Eldine Baptiste and Courtney Walsh, two former fast bowlers he captained when he led West Indies successfully for more than a decade, leaving former wicket-keeper Courtney Browne as the only member of the current panel to be retained,
Previous chairman Clyde Butts and Robert Haynes have been dropped from the selection panel, which will also continue to include head coach Ottis Gibson and the respective West Indies captain as a non-voting member.
The WICB said the changes were approved at a directors’ meeting on July 12 in Antigua and Lloyd and company have been awarded two-year contracts.
“We welcome the introduction of Clive Lloyd – one of the true legends of West Indies cricket – to the selection panel for the first time,” said WICB Director of Cricket Richard Pybus.
“We are also glad that an iconic fast bowler like Courtney Walsh, and a highly-experienced, former international player and coach like Eldine Baptiste have accepted to perform this important function.”
Pybus added: “Courtney Browne is retained on the panel as both selector and regional talent manager with a specialist focus on youth and women’s cricket.
“We look forward to their input as we continue to work on building a strong and sustainable cricket system that produces elite cricketers for the West Indies senior teams.”
Pybus thanked Butts and Haynes for their contribution over the last two terms, when they worked together with Browne to form the core of the panel.
“We thank Clyde and Robert for their commitment and professionalism, and the job they have done in a challenging period in West Indies history and we wish them well in their future endeavours,” he said.
“During their tenure, West Indies were crowned World Twenty20 champions and rose briefly to No.5 in the ICC Test World Rankings.”
The new panel will convene for the first time during the course of the coming week, with their first main task being the selection of the West Indies Test team for the series against Bangladesh.
Lloyd played 110 Tests and 87 One-day Internationals for West Indies between 1966 and 1985 and has subsequently worked in a number of roles with the regional governing body including coach, manager and director, and most recently was part of the WICB debriefing panel that assesses team performances following series.
Walsh, who played 132 Tests and 205 ODIs, has managed the West Indies Under-19s and coached in Jamaica, while Eldine Baptiste, a veteran of 10 Tests and 43 ODIs, has coached in Kenya, South Africa and the Caribbean.
