Newly appointed head coach of the West Indies Women’s team, Courtney Walsh, says that he will look to bring about a change in the fortunes of the side.
In an interview with the media yesterday, Walsh divulged his plans to return the two-time World T20 champions to glory.
He said that he will leave no stone unturned as he looks to refocus and reenergize the women’s programme and bring about some level of consistency.
“I think there is definitely room for improvement in all departments and aspects of the game,” he said.
“My whole idea, plan and strategy is to refocus, reenergize,” he added.
“I am not going to leave any stones unturned. I am going to go right through everything to give ourselves the best chance of improving as we go.”
The former West Indies fast bowler added that he plans to look at the talent pool.
“I plan to look at what we have, the talent we have and players we have and work out how we can improve with those players and the young players who come into the set up as well to try create that brand that we know we can play, that we used to play going back to when we won and a couple years ago when we went into the semis,” he stated.
He declared that his style of coaching was one which is applicable to any unit and listed his credentials.
“Coaching is coaching, maybe temperament and other stuff are different but coaching is coaching and my philosophy is I am a facilitator so it doesn’t matter who it is. I have worked with the Under-15, Under-19 did women did Bangladesh men but a lot of people didn’t know is I helped out wherever I could with the Bangladesh women, so it is not unfamiliar territory,” the 57-year-old, who holds the record for the most wickets taken by a West Indies bowler stated.
“In terms of coaching it’s just working on the skillsets and talent and trying to get them to improve and bind to it to ensure they are going forward focused on what we want to do. At the end of the day the team result is what is going to matter.”
Jamaican Walsh said that enough cricket is not being played and particularly with COVID-19, the pandemic will affect his plans. However, he remains committed to finding a way to work around the situation.
“Unfortunately we are not playing as much cricket in the region for the women as we would like to but we have to look out for what we have and get that spark back in. It’s [COVID-19] going to affect us because obviously it is going to affect us because we can’t go out and play but safety comes first but as much as West Indies Cricket would love to have cricket played in the region we still have to listen to the protocols and stay safe. We would have to try to utilize whatever tools and mechanisms to get whatever we can get done behind the scenes but obviously, the sooner we can go out the better it is for us,” he pointed out.
Walsh is eager to get the women into camp.
“Obviously from my stand point I would want to know how soon the ladies can sort of get into a camp and start work and so and when is the next tour so those are the issues we would try to address when we get the chance.”
Judging from the drop in form since West Indies Women won the T20 World Cup back in 2016, Walsh expressed that there is a need to re-evaluate the talents that exist and the new crop of players that are yet to break out on the scene.
While not so disappointed with their series whitewash at the hands of England last month, the newly appointed head coach indicated that there are some players who have been consistent and carried the team while some will need to get back up to the standard as he plans to “strike a balance” with the experienced players and emerging talents in order “to get everyone on the same page.”
