By Neto Baptiste
Legendary fast bowler and the first Antiguan to play for the senior West Indies team, Sir Andy Roberts, has called on Cricket West Indies (CWI) to utilise the region’s former players as specialist managers.
His suggestion came as he responded to a question regarding the recent poor form of batsman Shimron Hetmyer, stating that the young Guyanese player could benefit from having some of the former greats around him at this time.
“What I think they should do and this is my thinking, is to get someone like a Viv Richards, a Clive Lloyd or a Desmond Haynes to be cricket manager of the team. You could have your other managers to deal with your travels and your hotel arrangements, but in terms of taking the pressure off the coach, you have these guys who are really mentors of your up and coming batsmen, and because they have been there and they have done it, they would know — having gone through a period similar to what he is going through now — what it takes to come out of it,” he said.
Two other former players, Sir Curtly Ambrose and Sir Viv Richards, had earlier suggested that dropping the player may not be the correct approach to pulling him out of his slump. However, others have said that Hetmyer be replaced.
West Indies recently completed their first ODI series in five years when they beat Afghanistan, 3-0, in India.
Sir Andy congratulated the team on its series win, but cautioned that it does not spell the beginning of a complete turnaround for the regional squad.
“Afghanistan is also on a rebuilding programme and if we can’t beat them, then I don’t know what more to say. Afghanistan, after the World Cup, have left out a number of their established players just like we have also left out a number of our former players, but it seems as though our players are more equipped for this sort of game than they [Afghanistan] are at the moment,” he said.
The Windies is now set to take on Afghanistan in a three-match T20 series, starting November 14.