As newly appointed West Indies women’s team’s head coach, Courtney Walsh gets down to business, he is all for having more regional female cricket and scouting for new talent.
In a recent virtual press conference, Walsh said that it was time to roll his sleeves up and get down to work with the primary objective of this phase is to have a wider talent pool.
“In terms of the pool, as it is now [it is time to] get my sleeve rolled up, see as much of the players as I can and if possible before the next competition, so I get a good idea of the pool that I have and how I will get them ready and put in place to ensure that you not just have the pool ready but you have good back up as well, so you have good reserves in those who might not have made the first cut,” Walsh stated.
“Obviously the more cricket you play or the more people play cricket the pool is going to be wider so that’s why it is important for me to get some camps going in the meantime so I can look at various players.
“You might invite 20 people to camp and a different 20 or 10 from the last or so in camp B so you get a chance to see players and give them exposure so this is some of the stuff I will be looking at,” he said.
The former West Indies pacer proposed having a core of coaches travel around the region and look to spot new talent not just in a regional tournaments.
“Sometimes you can do talent hunting our scouting or do things like that to get them out,” he said.
“Obviously you want to see them in a match situation, that’s not going to happen but we can look at taking a core of coaches to the Windward Islands to Barbados to Jamaica just to try having a fun day to see if we can spot any talent,” he added.
Walsh is of the view that there is need for more cricket to be played.
“Obviously I would like to see more cricket being played that’s obvious in the region and not just the big territories but played across the region in a way where we can expose the talent that is out there and we can see them, have a look at them and encourage them to try get the pool a bit bigger because if we can get more women playing in the region at the regional level then obviously that is a big plus for Cricket West Indies.”
In his recommendations, Walsh also argued that the ladies could be exposed to a similar High Performance Camp as the men in order to fine tune their trade.
By virtue of more cricket, Walsh suggested that there will be a bigger pool of talent available and this will help shape West Indies Cricket in a better way since it will serve to help develop quality players who can step up and fill the roles needed for West Indies to go back to the top of the cricketing world.
“You can’t just be dependent on one or two players,” he said.
“Yes, you have players who will lead the charge but you also got to have players who can and will have to step to the plate so it is giving them that confidence and self-belief, it’s a work in progress, I am happy to have that chance again but I don’t want the team to be dependent on one or two players, one or two players have a role to play and everybody in the team has a role to play and if everybody fires together then we become a much better team quicker but if those players get good back up and good support as well it will put us in a good stead,” he added.
While not revealing all his plans, Walsh disclosed that in the coming days there will be several talks with Cricket West Indies Chief Executive Officer, Johnny Grave as well as Director of Cricket, Jimmy Adams, to chart a path into the future plans for the category.
