Barbados Cricket Association president, Conde Riley, has lashed out at Cricket West Indies (CWI) management, blaming what he sees as administrative errors for the team’s dismal showing in the just-concluded World Cup.
West Indies registered only one win in their nine matches and finished in ninth position out of field of 10 teams in World Cup 2019 in England and Wales that ended in mid-July, and Riley laid fault in CWI management’s strange decision to fire the entire coaching squad that had just steered the Caribbean team to a surprise victory over England in a Test series and to a draw in the following One-Day Internationals encounter.
“We ain’t win a match after the opening game against Pakistan because they fired everybody,” the Nation newspaper reported Riley saying Friday.
Riley, who is also a CWI director, is the first high-profile regional cricket official to hit out at management since the World Cup.
“I am an angry man. I do not like what they have done.”
Following the resignation of coach Stuart Law, CWI had appointed a temporary coach in Richard Pybus, who along with two assistant coaches inspired the West Indies to a 2-1 upset over England during a Caribbean tour from January to March.
In beating England the West Indies took back the Wisden Trophy, which the English held for the past 10 years.
The lowly-rated West Indies also managed to tie 2-all an ODI series against the English, the world number one team at the time.
Elections shortly after the English tour of the West Indies saw a change in CWI management with Ricky Skerritt taking over the presidency.
Among the immediate changes implemented by the Skerritt team was dismissal of Pybus and his coaching team.
“Jason Holder, the captain, begged him not to do it, I begged him not to do it. I am hurt,” Said Riley.
Since the abrupt change in the coaching team the only significant official match the West Indies players have won was their World Cup triumph over Pakistan.
Ironically the England side that the West Indies held to a 2-all draw in the Caribbean went on to win the World Cup while the regional team barely managed to keep itself from the bottom by being above Afghanistan.
“It hurts,” Riley told the Nation newspaper. “We should have done better. We finished second last. … I know we could have done better.”