Fast bowling legend Courtney Walsh has been named as the new head coach of the West Indies Women’s cricket team on Thursday (October 1).
Announcing the appointment of the West Indies cricket legend, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has confirmed that Walsh “will lead the preparation and development of the women's team at least up until the end of 2022” in an official statement on Thursday.
His stint with West Indies Women will see the next International Cricket Council (ICC) Women’s Cricket World Cup (50 overs) and ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. The 57-year-old, who is West Indies' leading wicket-taker in the Test cricket with 519 scalps, is also a member of the ICC Hall of Fame.
Previously, Walsh had served as a West Indies selector from 2013 to 2016 and then team manager of the junior team before taking up a short-term role with the West Indies Women’s team, including at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2020 held in Australia earlier this year.
The former pacer has also served as a Director of the Jamaica Cricket Association and Bowling Mentor for the Jamaica Tallawahs and Bowling Coach for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) apart from working as bowling coach with Bangladesh cricket team.
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Jimmy Adams, CWI’s Director of Cricket, said: “I am delighted to have Courtney leading our international women's programme having successfully come through CWI’s recruitment process. He will be overseeing the programme initially until the end of the next two ICC Women's World Cups in 2022 and he will be pivotal in working with CWI’s High Performance Team to move our whole women’s programme forward, as part of our wider strategic plan which has women’s cricket as a key priority.”
On his appointment, Walsh said, “This is indeed an honour to be named as the new head coach. I worked with the team at the Women’s T20 World Cup earlier this year in Australia and in the series against India in the Caribbean last year, so I have a very good understanding of what is required.”
He concluded, “The ability and the talent are there, we have some fantastic players in the West Indies, and it will be my duty and focus to help the women to develop their talents and achieve the goals we are going to be setting together.”
(With PTI Inputs)
