CPL winner Phil Simmons returns as West Indies Head Coach

Cricket West Indies (CWI) has announced the appointment of former West Indies player, Phil Simmons as the Head Coach of the West Indies Senior Men’s Team for a period of four years, as well as the appointment of three new selection panels.

Simmons was confirmed as the Head Coach during a meeting of the CWI Board of Directors on Monday, following the conclusion of a short but intensive recruitment process.  The Board had made it clear prior to the start of the recruitment process in September that “persons without West Indian heritage need not apply.”

Simmons served previously for a short period as Head Coach of the West Indies Senior Men’s team, during which he coached the team to the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup title, following which he was controversially dismissed. He served since as the Head Coach of Afghanistan, who he helped qualify for the first time for the 2019 ICC ODI CWC.

His tenure as head coach of Ireland, saw them improve their ICC rankings and qualify for all major ICC events. Simmons’ latest coaching success came just two days ago when he coached the Barbados Tridents to the 2019 Hero Caribbean Premier League title with an impressive victory over the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Saturday’s Final.

CWI President, Ricky Skerritt, shared his thoughts on the confirmation of Phil Simmons, “Bringing Phil Simmons back is not just righting a past wrong, but I am confident that CWI has chosen the right man for the job at the right time. I want to also thank the very talented Floyd Reifer for the hard work he put in while he was the interim coach.”

CWI’s Director of Cricket Jimmy Adams, “I am happy, after a very robust recruitment process at the appointment of Phil to the role of Head Coach. I have no doubt that Phil brings the requisite leadership skills and experience needed to drive improvement across our international squads and I look forward to supporting him in the role.”

CWI also announced the appointment of three new Men’s, Women’s and Girls’ Panel, and Boys’ Selection Panel following a recruitment process that ran parallel to the selection of the new coach.

The recommendation of a new CWI selection structure and policy were the main outputs of the report of the Selection System Review Task Force, presented by Vice President Shallow at the September Board meeting in Tobago.

Eighteen (18) candidates were considered and evaluated for the five positions across the three Selection Panels. The CWI recruitment panel unanimously selected the following candidates who have now been confirmed:

WI Men’s Panel

• Lead Selector: Roger Harper
• Selector: Miles Bascombe

WI Women’s & Girls’ Panel

• Lead Selector: Ann Browne-John
• Selector: Travis Dowlin

WI Boys’ Panel

• Talent ID Manager: Robert Haynes

The Head Coach of each team will complete the make-up of each of the respective panels.

CWI Vice-President Kishore Shallow commented, “We have been delighted at the interest and quality of candidates who participated in the recruitment process to fill the roles for the Selection Panels. These roles are vital to execute the new selection policy to select squads for the West Indies teams at every level. We wish the selectors every success as they commence work immediately.”

Commenting on the Selection Panels, Jimmy Adams said, “After a comprehensive revamp of our selection system including the introduction of separate panels, I am confident that our ability to identify and manage talent will be enhanced. I have all confidence that the new system, along with the selectors chosen to the various panels will continue to help drive our game in this critical area. “

The Selection Panels set to work immediately with the West Indies Men’s team preparing to play Afghanistan, in India, in November in three (3) T20 Internationals (T20Is), three (3) One Day Internationals (ODIs) and one (1) Test match. The Men’s team then stay in India to play three (3) T20Is and three (3) ODIs before returning home before Christmas.

The West Indies Women will host India Women for three (3) ODIs and five (5) T20Is starting on November 1. And the West Indies Under-19 team will host a triangular series with Sri Lanka and England Under-19s in December as they prepare for the ICC Under-19 World in January in South Africa.

The Men’s Teams squads will be announced in a press conference at 11am at Queens Park Oval, Port of Spain, Trinidad on Tuesday 16 November.

The Head Coach recruitment process began with the selection of the eleven most suitable coaches from the list of thirty-four (34) applicants, all of whom made the application deadline of September 20. The list of applicants was then further cut to a shortlist of six (6) candidates on September 24.

After these six (6) potential Head Coaches were interviewed, all of whom had a minimum of a Level 3 coaching accreditation, a final shortlist of three (3) candidates attended final interviews at Coolidge Cricket Grounds, Antigua Tuesday October 8^th.

The CWI Panel for the final-round interviews was:

• Kishore Shallow (CWI Vice President; and Chair, CWI Human Resources Committee)
• Jimmy Adams (CWI Director of Cricket)
• Oneka Martin-Bird (CWI Human Resources Manager)
• Debra Coryat-Patton (CWI Independent Director and CWI HR Committee Member)
• Enoch Lewis (CWI Director; and Chair, CWI Cricket Committee)
• Rudi Webster (Independent Consultant)

For the Selection Panels, eighteen (18) candidates were assessed for the roles, before a final short list of ten (10) candidates were considered across the three panels.

The shortlisted candidates for the West Indies Women’s & Girls’ Selection Panel and the West Indies Boys’ Talent ID Manager position were interviewed by a CWI panel consisting of:

• Kishore Shallow (CWI Vice President; and Chair, CWI HR Committee)
• Jimmy Adams (CWI Director of Cricket)
• Oneka Martin-Bird (CWI Human Resources Manager)

The candidates for the West Indies Men’s panel were interviewed by the same panel and Dr. Rudi Webster also joined this panel as an independent consultant. (CWI)