Courtney Walsh, the new West Indies Women’s Head Coach, is seeking to go deep in his reservoir of experience as he looks to bring a turnaround in the fortunes of the team. One key area is finding the right balance of players.
Since the 50-Over World Cup in England in 2017, where they failed to qualify for the semi-finals, West Indies only 50-over series victory has been against Sri Lanka in the Caribbean just after the global showpiece.
Six bilateral series since have produced five losses and one draw.
In the fancied T20 format, the 2016 World champions did not make the semi-finals at this year’s World T20 in Australia.
In their last two bilateral T20I international series – against India and England – they lost all 10 matches.
Walsh indicated on Monday during a Virtual briefing that it is imperative to find the right balance of players.
“We got to sort of refocus and re-energise and try recreate and spot new talent as well,” Walsh said.
“Unfortunately, we are not playing as much cricket in the region as we would like to, but we have to look at what we have and get that sparkle back in. I would like to see us smiling again, playing that West Indian brand of cricket that I know we can play.”
He added: “We have to evaluate all of what we have, look at those players, the emerging players, and try to strike the right balance. They have been a couple of players that have been consistent in what they have done and there is a couple of players who need to sort to get the workload back up and there is a couple of young players who are keen to get in. For me it is striking the right balance and getting everyone on the same page.”
It’s not difficult to pinpoint the reason why the West Indies have struggled: their batting has been a major let down, more so, the lack of contributions from the supporting cast when the seasoned campaigners failed to fire.
The recently-concluded series against England, where they lost all five T20s was a perfect example; only Deandra Dottin got over 100 runs, with 185, with the next best being Stafanie Taylor’s 78.
“You can’t let it be dependent on one or two players; yes we have those players who will lead the charge but we also have back up players who can and will have to step to the plate. It is [about] giving them confidence and self-belief. I don’t want the team to be dependent on one or two players, everyone in the team has a role and if everyone fires together, we will become a much better team quicker.”
Walsh also hopes to get female players involved in the proposed High Performance system Cricket West Indies is set to implement in the near future.
He also called for more female cricket at all levels so they can expand the pool of available players.
