Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) president Azim Bassarath is not in support of retaining separate coaches for the West Indies’ white-ball and red-ball cricket teams, stating that Cricket West Indies (CWI) does not can support him at this point in time. .
Speaking to Andre Baptiste on WESN TV’s Face of Sports last week, Bassarath, who is also a CWI director, said CWI’s limited finances have meant the regional first-class competition will again be limited to one round. next year and it is doubtful the situation will improve enough for them to have separate coaches.
“We are very worried about the finances of Cricket West Indies and we don’t have the resources at the moment to hire two coaches and two sets of backroom staff,” claimed Bassarath.
“I think we should focus on one coach and a group of people who will help that coach. Again, funding is an important factor in the CWI and that’s why we can’t even have two rounds of four-day cricket for 2023,” he argued.
The 2022 first-class season was also limited to one round of matches.
“So I doubt we will be able to get funding from anywhere to support that two-coach scenario in Cricket West Indies. It’s something I’m not going to support but we can look at a coach and a bunch of backroom staff because that’s what we can afford at this time,” the TTCB boss added.
He also applauded West Indies coach Phil Simmons for taking responsibility for the team’s poor performance in the T20 World Cup in Australia.
Bassarath is of the opinion that the team was well prepared for the tournament and put it down to “two bad days”.
“I think what happened is we had two bad days. We lost and we accept the fact that we shouldn’t have lost to those teams. I think we had two bad days in Australia so we had to come home,” he said.
“I don’t agree with people who say he (Simmons) should have gone earlier. I think Phil would have done his part to take West Indies cricket forward. We didn’t get all the results we wanted under Phil, but I think he was a great coach,” Bassarath added.
“Also, when you watch Phil Simmons in the dugout, you would have seen passion and hurt where we weren’t doing well. You would have seen the love he had for WI cricket. I think Phil would have done a great job, but I think he made the necessary sacrifice that was needed at the time.
“Not all the time you’re going to get the results you want from the hard work you’ve put in, but I applaud Phil for making the decision he did. He took responsibility for what happened in the World Cup and he should be applauded for that,” Bassarath said.
The TTCB president also noted that Simmons’ resignation “will take effect in the month of January because he got three months’ notice but no cricket for the West Indies
until February, so the Australian series will be the last series for him.”
And while the coach would have shown passion for the job, he said you are not seeing the same from today’s crop of players.
“We have said that we are not seeing the passion from today’s crop of players. Not all, but certainly one of the most important ingredients in wanting to represent the West Indies and wanting to do well for myself and the people of the Caribbean,” argued Bassarath.
“If we don’t have passion, we won’t go out there and give 100 percent. You might feel as a player that you’re giving 100 percent, but really and truly you’re not giving 100 percent because you don’t let go of the passion and you don’t show the passion. And the reason for that is probably because we don’t use in the young players the history of West Indies cricket where we came from and certainly what our great players of the past would have done for cricket for the people of the Caribbean,” he added.
Asked about Shimron’s Hetmyer’s situation of missing two World Cup flights before he left the team, Bassarath said there needs to be a serious discussion with the West Indies players in terms of declaring their intentions. theirs.
“I’m not sure about the action but I think there should be a discussion not just with him but with all the senior West Indies players. I think now is the time for senior West Indian players and international stars to really decide whether they want to represent West Indies or stick to franchise (cricket), or don’t want to play cricket at all. Bassarath explained.
“But I think it’s time now to have a serious discussion with all the West Indies players who really want to represent the West Indies and not just use the West Indies for their own vested whims and desires, but to go on and to represent the people of the Caribbean on all international stages,” he continued.
“Administrators and senior managers are supposed to engage Mr. I’m not accepting the fact that he missed his flight. I guess he didn’t make an effort to go to the airport and board the flight. I’m not sure if action should be taken, but we definitely need to have a word with him and let him know how serious this matter is.”
Asked about the captaincy of Nicholas Pooran, the TTCB president, it would be disrespectful not to give him the Red Force captaincy once it became available for the Super50.
“As we speak at the moment, Nicholas Pooran is the captain of the West Indies white-ball teams and I think it would have been a huge disrespect not to give him the captaincy if he agreed to take part in this Super50 tournament. We had a trend that we had set before when Dwayne Bravo captained the West Indies, he was given the captaincy of the Red Force for the Super50. When Kieron Pollard became the captain of the West Indies, he was given the captaincy in 2021 to captain the Red Force.
“I think he’s got the players to rally around him and I think he had a bad outing this time in Australia and as a young man he’s going to need some sort of coaching and advice and we shouldn’t crucify him because he made some mistakes. I think we need to rally around him and he has the full support of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board and we will rally around him as long as he remains captain of the white-ball teams,” concluded Bassarath.
