Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cricket West Indies, Johnny Grave confirmed on Tuesday that Guyanese coach, Rayon Griffith, will be the head coach of West Indies for their A-team tour of Bangladesh. Grave made this declaration while appearing as a guest on the Mason and Guest radio programme. The CEO said, “He has been working with us and amongst our elite seniors team for several years now and he is going to take the development opportunity to go and lead the A team tour of Bangladesh who will be supported by a usual group of assistance and medical team.”
Griffith, 44, has served as Head Coach and manager of the Guyana senior team and as Head Coach of the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Caribbean Premier League. The former seamer, who played 22 First-Class and 22 List A matches, has served as Assistant Coach of the West Indies senior men’s side since 2019.
The CEO also confirmed that Griffith will be assisted by Andrew Richardson and Stuart Williams. Grave highlighted that Grenadian, Dwain Gill has been appointed as the manager.
According to reports, Gill was appointed as the new President of the Windward Islands Cricket Board (WICB), taking over from Dr. Kishore Shallow, who has stepped down from the position following his election as the President of Cricket West Indies at their recent Annual General Meeting in March. Gill, who has been a director of the Windward Islands Cricket Board since 2014, is also a Cricket West Indies Director and previously served as manager for the West Indies under-19 team at the World Cup in 2016.
“Under the articles of the association, he wouldn’t be taking any remuneration for his directorship under the duration of this A team series. It is something he has done several times before, he was the under-19 team manager many times before and he is an experienced team manager which again on a trip to Bangladesh for over a month it is important that we have some senior leadership there to support the players…,” Grave said.
The 15-man squad will be led by Joshua Da Silva and includes Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Anderson Phillip and Gudakesh Motie, all of whom have Test experience. Newbies, Kirk McKenzie, Zachary McCaskie, Jair McAllister as well as Alick Athanaze, Yannick Cariah, Keacy Carty, Tevin Imlach, Akeem Jordan, Brandon King and Kevin Sinclair complete the team. The West Indies “A” Team will arrive in Bangladesh on May 11 and play four three-day “Test” matches at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (SICS). All these matches will have full first-class status. The first “Test” will be on May 16-19, second “Test” on May 23-26 and the third “Test” will be on May 30 to June 2.
