(CMC) – Former Jamaica men’s captain and West Indies men’s left-handed opener Robert Samuels has been appointed interim head coach for the West Indies Women’s team for their only international home series for the year against Ireland in St Lucia.
Samuels, who played six Tests and eight One-day Internationals for West Indies, was assistant coach to compatriot and highly-decorated former West Indies fast bowler Courtney Walsh from whom he takes over for the series of three ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals.
“Robert brings continuity and stability to get the team through this period,” CWI high performance manager, Graeme West said in a Cricket West Indies news release. “He has great knowledge of the players, and the women’s game in general, and strong knowledge of the support staff, so it’s almost a seamless transition with Robert coming in as interim head coach.
“He has his own ideas, and he is trying to implement them now as interim head coach as opposed to assistant coach. He has made a good impact and start over the last few days and I’m sure it will continue throughout the series.”
Working with Samuels will be former Barbados and Combined Campuses & Colleges off-spinner Ryan Austin, and former Leeward Islands captain Steve Liburd, the head coach of the West Indies Women’s Under-19 Rising Stars.
The 18-member West Indies Women’s squad is presently at a training camp at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia.
The three ODIs on June 26, 28, and July 1 at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground will be the third fixture for West Indies Women in the ICC Women’s Championship, where they are pushing to win points to achieve a top five position to qualify directly for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025.
The three T20Is will be played on July 4, 6, and 8 at the same venue.
