PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board president Azim Bassarath said former national opening batsman David Furlonge emerged from a transparent process to be named the new head coach of the T&T Red Force.
The TTCB announced on Monday that Furlonge, 62, was selected by an interview panel from a list of 10 candidates that also included incumbent Mervyn Dillon, the former T&T and West Indies fast bowler.
Furlonge was a member of the T&T team that won the West Indies Championship under the late Rangy Nanan in 1985.
He is the long-serving head coach of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, T&T’s biggest and most recognised club, and he was the manager/assistant coach of the Red Force team, which finished runners-up to Barbados in the Windies Championship during the past season.
“He is a well-respected coach in T&T,” Bassarath said in an interview with DBS Radio in Dominica.
“He has won a number of our domestic competitions. A lot of coaches and players
from around the Caribbean know him very well, and he will bring a lot of experience and knowledge to the Red Force team.”
Bassarath added: “The Red Force has some good young players with a few experienced players, and I think he has worked with many of them and was previously the manager of the team for the past three or four years.
“I think he knows the players very well and the players know him well too, and I think they will work together and bring the right synergies to bring home one of the titles in the regional tournaments.”
Bassarath said the TTCB appreciated the work of Dillon, whose one-year contract ended on April 30 this year.
“He did well with the Red Force team,” Bassarath said. “He also participated in the interview process, but the panel came up with the recommendation of Mr. Furlonge and the national executive decided we should go with the No.1 person that came through the process.”
Bassarath said the TTCB also appreciated the other coaching candidates for the keen interest they showed in responding to their invitation, but he was satisfied with the integrity, transparency and accountability of the process used for the first time to select a senior men’s national team head coach, which involved an advertising in the media.
”When Mr. Dillon was appointed coach of the team, a lot of the coaches in T&T said that we were not transparent,” he said. “Why was it not one of them?”
“When Mr. Dillon’s contract came to an end, we decided that we should have some sort of transparency in the process of filling the position. Hence, why we had 18 applicants for the job.”
A TTCB media release on Monday said that the interview panel noted Furlonge’s “excellent leadership qualities, an astute knowledge of all aspects of the game, a familiarity of the technological tools to improve the national team, a visionary plan for the immediate future, outstanding communication skills which clearly articulates his mission, and impeccable qualifications highlighted by a Cricket Australia Level 3 High Performance Coaching Certificate”.
Bassarath said the Red Force team is currently in training, meeting three days a week in two shifts, at the National Cricket Centre in the central Trinidad district of Couva under the guidance of staff coaches, David Williams, the former T&T and West Indies wicketkeeper, and Kelvin Williams, the former T&T all-rounder.
He said a national Under-23 tournament is planned for December and a four-team, franchise-styled 50 overs-a-side tournament was is the works for January.
“I understand from the two coaches that the players are enthusiastic, and they are very anxious to get on the field of play and to have games played in the middle, so that they can have the opportunity to be prepared for the regional tournaments coming up in 2021,” Bassarath said.
Furlonge is expected to meet with the players currently in training during this week.
