PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Recently-elected Cricket West Indies chief, Ricky Skerritt, has given the assurance that interim head coach, Floyd Reifer, will remain in his post for the remainder of the year, and says there will be no “hasty political decisions” in the wake of the Caribbean side’s disastrous showing at the ICC World Cup.
Speaking following West Indies’ final outing of the campaign on Thursday in Leeds, Skerritt praised Reifer as a coach with a “winning track record” and also rubbished suggestions that the change in management prior to the World Cup played a role in the team’s poor showing.
West Indies won two of nine group stage matches to finish ninth in the 10-team standings on five points, their worst ever performance at a World Cup.
“That is a whole joke in terms of continuity [of coaching staff for the World Cup]. In six years, we’ve had seven coaches, including Floyd Reifer who was coach for a few matches before the politics appointed (Richard) Pybus,” Skerritt told i95.5FM sports programme here.
“Now people want Floyd Reifer to go and bring somebody else and then somebody else will go – that is not going to happen under my watch.
“We have already put it clearly out that by the end of this year a head coach would be hired for at least a three-year plan and that is to take us to the next ODI [World Cup] of 2023.”
He continued: “Floyd Reifer has a temporary contract that was always going to be up until the end of this calendar year. If he wins the recruitment process, he will then continue; if he loses the recruitment to somebody else, he will continue in some other position for three months until his one year contract expires.
“The new coach would start, if things go according to plan, somewhere early in 2020.”
Englishman Pybus was controversially thrust into the role of West Indies head coach last January on the eve of the England series, a decision that resulted in public acrimony among CWI board members who feuded over the manner of the appointment.
A former director of cricket, Pybus then oversaw a shock 2-1 win in the three-Test series, a 2-2 draw in the five-match ODI series before the home side suffered a whitewash in the three-match T20 Internationals.
After toppling three-term incumbent Dave Cameron in March, the new Skerritt administration then moved to install Reifer as interim head coach in a complete overhaul of the team management and selection panel.
Warning that the shambolic means by which Pybus was appointed would not be repeated, Skerritt said the recruitment for a permanent coach would not be rushed but would be allowed to go through the proper processes.
“The recruitment process will take whatever length of time it takes to get the best coach in place,” Skerritt pointed out.
“Recruiting a coach involves money, involves time, involves certain administrative requirements and there are processes. We’re going to go through a methodical process and get the best people in the best timing in the best places.
“We’re not panicking, we’re not going to make any hasty political decisions and repeat what has been done in the past. That’s not how we operate.”
Reifer’s next assignment will be India’s tour of the Caribbean for two Tests, three ODIs and three T20 Internationals from August 3 to September 3.