CRICKET WEST INDIES

Bridgetown, Barbados – West Indies Head Coach Ottis Gibson says the ongoing WICB two-day Fast Bowling Coaches Workshop has come at an ideal time and is step in the right direction. He also outlined that initiatives such as this will go a long way in the development of the game in the region.

 

“This workshop is the first of many we plan to have and it is great to see the WICB has decided to invest in the development of coaches from across the region as we seek to raise the level of cricket in the Caribbean,” Gibson said during a break in the workshop.

 

“Bowling was a natural starting point for me as I was a fast bowler during my playing days and a Bowling Coach as well. We intend to do other workshops on batting, spin bowling, wicket-keeping, and fielding in the future,” Gibson explained.

 

“Up-skilling the coaches in the region is vitally important. We are offering them clear guidelines on how to coach effectively and what to look for; how to make changes and adjustments, and hopefully this will, in the end produce, better coaches capable of helping with the development of our players,” Gibson outlined.

 

The workshop is being staged at the Sagicor High Performance Centre at the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies. It is being facilitated by Gibson and world renowned biomechanist Dr. Paul Hurrion. The facilitation team also includes Sagicor HPC Bowling Coach and West Indies Under-19 Head Coach Roddy Estwick, WICB Physiotherapist CJ Clark and Video and Statistical Analyst Richard Berridge along with other specialists.

 

The WICB is funding the full participation of two coaches from each Territorial Board and Combined Campuses and Colleges and the workshop was also open to other coaches who showed an interest. The additional coaches are responsible for their travel and accommodation while the participation fee for the workshop has been absorbed by the WICB.

 

Gibson added: “The initiative is two-fold. In the West Indies we have a great history of amazing fast bowlers. Young men grew up wanting to be a Hall or a Griffith, a Marshall or a Garner, a Walsh or an Ambrose. We were blessed with amazing fast bowlers. Nowadays the cupboard doesn’t appear as full and we have to start to look at ways of producing great pacers. In the glory days of West Indies cricket our fast bowlers won us many matches and I believe good fast bowlers will still win you matches.

 

“We also need to educate our hard-working coaches about the various aspects of fast bowling and also provide them with details and offer the right knowledge base to help our young fast bowlers develop. The fact that the numbers of coaches who came here for the workshop is quite high, and we had a lot more who wanted to participate, suggest that people across the Caribbean see the importance of such initiatives.

 

“We have a number of coaches here who have played at the international and regional levels and we aim to equip them with the tools to assist the young fast bowlers across the Caribbean and help them to fix some of the common problems young fast bowlers have.”

 

Full list of participants

 

Territorial Board nominees:

Vasbert Drakes – Barbados 

Dexter Toppin – Barbados

Floyd Reifer – CCC

Ryan Wiggins – CCC

Esuan Crandon – Guyana

Rayon Griffith – Guyana

Terrence Corke – Jamaica

Robert Samuels – Jamaica

Winston Benjamin – Leeward Islands

Alec Burns – Trinidad and Tobago

Roland Sampath – Trinidad and Tobago

Raymond Duncan – Windward Islands

Walter Emmanuel – Windward Islands

 

Independent Participants

Pernell Wattley – Antigua and Barbuda

Hendy Bryan – Barbados

Henderson Springer – Barbados

Lorenzo Tucker – Bermuda

Ian Allen – St Vincent and the Grenadines

Deighton Butler – St Vincent and the Grenadines

Nixon McLean – St Vincent and the Grenadines

Dasrath Maharaj – Trinidad and Tobago