Haynes, Simmons lead race for WI head coaching job
Batting legend Desmond Haynes and former head coach Phil Simmons lead the race to be the next full-time head coach of the West Indies men’s team, with current interim coach Floyd Reifer also making the shortlist.
Cricket West Indies said yesterday that Haynes, Reifer and Simmons emerged from a list of six candidates that took part in the initial interview process which concluded on Monday – and there will now be a final round of interviews to be completed by October 11.
“Critical areas discussed were applications of cricket-specific experience, technical knowledge, performance planning process, performance measurement, performance-driven culture and also CWI’s core values of passion, accountability, respect, integrity and team excellence,” said a CWI media release.
A CWI panel comprising vicepresident Dr Kishore Shallow, who is chairman of the CWI’s human resource committee; CWI director of cricket, Jimmy Adams; CWI human resources manager, Oneka MartinBird; CWI independent director, Debra Coryat-Patton; and Englandbased coaching educator, Gordon Lord conducted the interviews with the three former West Indies batsmen and other candidates.
Haynes, a former West Indies captain and one half of the most durable opening partnership in the history of the international game with Gordon Greenidge, had previously expressed interest in the position.
DECORATED PLAYING CAREER
He brings the wealth of a decorated playing career in which he scored 7,487 runs in 116 Tests and 8,648 runs in 238 one-day internationals between 1978 and 1994.
Haynes had also held the post of batting consultant briefly when Ottis Gibson was head coach and has had coaching stints with several Twenty20 franchise sides in recent times.
Simmons, also a former West Indies opener, was head coach for close to two years before being sacked in September 2016 following differences with the leadership of CWI – but was scooped up by Afghanistan and guided the side to the 2019 World Cup in England.
Reifer, a former Barbados and West Indies captain, and longstanding head coach of Combined Campuses & Colleges, is currently interim head coach.